CHASING COVID-19 VACCINE

[dws1982]

My process has been pretty easy. Probably helps that I'm a public (school board) employee. We just had to send an email if we interested and then they contacted us with a date. My situation was a little more complicated because I have drug allergies, so they were going to send me to the hospital for my vaccine (Pfizer), but when I told them it was only a reaction to oral medications, they gave me an appointment at the church that is serving as a vaccine site. Second dose is on the 25th. Trying to decide if I should take off the 26th...it is a Friday, and the Friday before Spring Break. (I am already not at school on the 25th for a textbook committee meeting.)

[Mister Tee]

Missouri dropped the ball mightily in the beginning. They had guidelines for distribution, then they kept changing them and manipulating them to the point where I couldn't keep track of where I even stood in the whole thing. My mother, who's over 65 and has a handful of the comoribidities, finally got her first dose on the 27th. They have her scheduled for a second visit on the 27th of March. It's bad enough that they took forever to finally get her the vaccine, but then to exceed the guideline for the vaccine and force her to wait 4 weeks to get the second seems like a bad move. I still see no vaccine in sight for me.

Did she get Pfizer or Moderna? Because with Moderna, 4 weeks is the standard -- I had my first shot Feb. 5th, my second March 5th.

[OscarGuy]

Missouri dropped the ball mightily in the beginning. They had guidelines for distribution, then they kept changing them and manipulating them to the point where I couldn't keep track of where I even stood in the whole thing. My mother, who's over 65 and has a handful of the comoribidities, finally got her first dose on the 27th. They have her scheduled for a second visit on the 27th of March. It's bad enough that they took forever to finally get her the vaccine, but then to exceed the guideline for the vaccine and force her to wait 4 weeks to get the second seems like a bad move. I still see no vaccine in sight for me.

[Big Magilla]

We have different acquaintances, then. Sore arm after the first shot checks out, but at least half (including me) have had 24-36 hours of feeling like processed dog-meat after the second shot. Symptoms vary (I had over-the-top indigestion and body-shaking chills, others get migraines), but almost everyone has slept through the entire day-after.

Distribution in NY has been haphazard. The day (in early January) when they announced the age threshold dropped from 75 to 65, web sites crashed -- possibly because 65-75 year olds is literally the post-war baby boom (also a generation that's spent its lifetime gaming sites like that for the best concert tickets). By the time I was able to get through to the Javits Center registration, the first available appointment was early April.

Fortunately, I noted that my local pharmacy was on the list to eventually distribute the vaccine, so I enrolled myself in their system. A few weeks later, I heard that such pharmacies would be getting a supply soon, so I went over and asked the woman at the prescription counter (who I've known for many years) to check where I stood in the queue. She input my data, and asked the golden question: Can you come in tomorrow? Got my first shot the next day, and the second last Friday. Maybe moral of the story: it doesn't hurt to have long-standing relationships.

Actually, most of those I know haven't gotten to their second shots yet, so I may be underestimating the effects of that one.

Everything else you said rings true. There is a lot of gaming going around with the websites. The first person I know here who got in is 67. Several got theirs because one person here, who has no computer or smart phone, got the private number of someone in the system who booked an appointment for her. She then shared the number with two friends, one of whom spread it to a dozen others causing all hell to break loose. That group is just getting their second dose now.

The pharmacies here don't have the vaccines yet but they are all telling people their hands are tied, to either go to the websites or find someone to go to them for them.

[FilmFan720]

Yeah, my second shot hit me hard too -- got it on a Saturday, and spent all day Sunday on the couch watching mindless movies with what is best described as the worst hangover of my life. Chills, headache, dehydrated, and no energy whatsoever. Woke up Monday feeling perfect.

[Mister Tee]

I will have to wait a lot of time before I get vaccinated which is a shame because apparently one will only be allowed to travel abroad if it has received a vaccine and I really miss traveling...

In my country only 12% have received at least one shot and 2% the full vaccine.

Does anyone you know that has been vaccinated experienced any side effects?

Only side effects have been a sore arm overnight, mostly just after the first shot. Some have lasted a few days, one for more than a week but they all got past it.

We have different acquaintances, then. Sore arm after the first shot checks out, but at least half (including me) have had 24-36 hours of feeling like processed dog-meat after the second shot. Symptoms vary (I had over-the-top indigestion and body-shaking chills, others get migraines), but almost everyone has slept through the entire day-after.

Distribution in NY has been haphazard. The day (in early January) when they announced the age threshold dropped from 75 to 65, web sites crashed -- possibly because 65-75 year olds is literally the post-war baby boom (also a generation that's spent its lifetime gaming sites like that for the best concert tickets). By the time I was able to get through to the Javits Center registration, the first available appointment was early April.

Fortunately, I noted that my local pharmacy was on the list to eventually distribute the vaccine, so I enrolled myself in their system. A few weeks later, I heard that such pharmacies would be getting a supply soon, so I went over and asked the woman at the prescription counter (who I've known for many years) to check where I stood in the queue. She input my data, and asked the golden question: Can you come in tomorrow? Got my first shot the next day, and the second last Friday. Maybe moral of the story: it doesn't hurt to have long-standing relationships.

[Big Magilla]

I will have to wait a lot of time before I get vaccinated which is a shame because apparently one will only be allowed to travel abroad if it has received a vaccine and I really miss traveling...

In my country only 12% have received at least one shot and 2% the full vaccine.

Does anyone you know that has been vaccinated experienced any side effects?

Only side effects have been a sore arm overnight, mostly just after the first shot. Some have lasted a few days, one for more than a week but they all got past it.

[mlrg]

I will have to wait a lot of time before I get vaccinated which is a shame because apparently one will only be allowed to travel abroad if it has received a vaccine and I really miss traveling...

In my country only 12% have received at least one shot and 2% the full vaccine.

Does anyone you know that has been vaccinated experienced any side effects?

[Big Magilla]

Thanks. Fortunately the health care workers and educators in my family have gotten their doses along with all of those with underlying conditions so the people I've been most concerned with personally are in a better position.

No doubt if I still lived in New York or California I would have gotten mine by now, but for some reason New Jersey is really dragging its feet on this.

[gunnar]

In Michigan, a lot of people have been frustrated, though it has gotten better over the past month. Supply shortages in December and January made it really tough to get the vaccine. My mom got her first shot at the beginning of February through the University of Michigan hospital system. She had her eye surgeries there and regularly sees her eye doctor there so she was in the system. They contacted her and she was able to get right in. I drove her up there for the first appointment and she said that it was a very smooth set up. It was held at the Big House (where Michigan plays football). Her second appointment also went well.

We both had registered at Meijer (a major supermarket/superstore chain in the midwest) in late January and they contacted her toward the end of February that she could come in and get her shot if she still needed it, which she declined of course. My brother and his wife each work at community colleges and got their first shots through their workplace last week. A lot of teachers that I worked with had to really scramble back in January and February to find a place to get their shots, but it has become easier for them since then with several large clinic sites set up.

It might be harder in some parts of the state, though. There was a news story about one family that drove all the way down to Mississippi to try and get the shot for one family member with preexisting conditions only to return home with nothing to show for it when they were turned away when the vaccine supplies ran it. A neighbor told me of a friend who was planning to drive 5 hours (each way) to get their shots in the northern part of the state. The county health department where I live puts available vaccine appointments on their website every week, but they go very quickly. They have a program for seniors where they provide free transportation to get their shots, but limited availability is a problem.

It all just seems pretty inconsistent, though it seems like it is getting better. I become eligible on March 22nd and wonder how long it will take me to find a place to get my shot. If I was still teaching, I likely would have had it a month ago, but I retired in 2018 so that was out.

Good luck getting your shot. Hopefully you get your chance soon.

[Big Magilla]

I have never been so frustrated by anything in my life.

Sine late January I have been eligible to receive the vaccine. I've tried morning, noon, and night to book an appointment to no avail.

Most of my seven younger living siblings in New York and Texas have had their shots as have even younger family members who qualify.

Here in New Jersey, it's very difficult. In Ocean County it's practically impossible. I check the state site, the county site, the Hackensack-Meridian hospital site, and for the last week, the Rite-Aid and CVC sites constantly. They're either all fully booked or don't have the vaccine.

Early on, there were appointments available at locations more than fifty miles away, but I refused to travel that far just to be turned away as have several of my neighbors whose appointments were canceled at the last minute.

The few situations where my neighbors have gotten the vaccine have either been because they got it when visiting their spouse in the hospital, knew someone who worked for the county who put them at the head of the line and in one infamous situation where the county opened one site to walk-ins 65 and above in a windstorm. It was supposed to be for two days, but was abruptly cut short a little over two and a half hours into it because they were overwhelmed. My two neighbors were among the last to get it, having it having waited on line for four hours to do so.

Right now, when there are finally vaccination spots within a couple of miles of my house, some of them within walking distance, the state site has crashed and the others are saying everything is booked, come back another day.

So, if I seem grumpier than usual these days, this is why.