A Remote Chance to Get CV19 Vaccinated

[RSteve]

MN is beginning phase 2 vaccination, but very limited, because the shipment of vaccine is much less than expected. Instead of age 75+, they're starting with 65+, which ruins my odds. There will be nine sites in MN for vaccinations, none in the major metro, where I live. Beginning at noon Tuesday, there's a window to make an appointment for a vaccination on Thursday. I don't care where I can get an appointment, my older daughter says she'll go with me to any corner of the state. The web page to make an appointment is unavailable until noon. We still don't know if we have to contact all nine sites for availabilities. I think I already may have had Covid as I was really ill for three weeks last January, but there's no way to confirm it. If I can get a vaccination and stay alive and healthy for a few more years, I'm going to do my best to devote myself to helping the less fortunate.

 

[Ranger107]

All the vaccine in Az so far has been distributed in Maricopa county(phx area). Guess us old codgers in the boonies will just have to wait. Sucks.

 

[Puffy]

I called a local pharmacy..They told me at least another month.

 

[Mikem]

I'm waiting for the over 65 group to kick in. My biggest question is since I'm technically an Arizona resident will I be able to get it here in Indiana. Helping to take care of my Granddaughter while she is going through all her surgeries at Shriners hospital. Probably won't be able to get back to Arizona until March or April.

 

[Hermit]

I got my first Moderna shot today.

 

[RSteve]

What an absolutely bizarre experience. My older daughter came to my house this morning, so we could attack the appointment website via our phones and computers. Precisely at noon, the appointment website opened and you had to choose one of nine locations where you would like to make an appointment, then click on it to get into the que. About 15 minutes later, my younger daughter, at her home, said she'd try to get into the que, as well. Older daughter and I were at the website the second it opened. About 12:30, I got an error message and was booted off the location I'd selected. My older daughter had no success either. WTF? Text from my younger daughter, "I'm in the que waiting for instructions, but I really can't do much because I have to teach my class." 30 minutes pass and the younger daughter phones, "I'm in. Where does Dad want to get vaccinated?" There's a questionnaire that she's filling out as she asks me health questions, etc. What a wacky system! On the introductory page it asks you to click on a location, but that location is meaningless until you're actually making an appointment. It was apparently a diversionary tactic to spread out contact input lines. The younger daughter entered the system requesting an appointment in far northern MN on the iron range. Older daughter and I tried for locations closer to Mpls.-St. Paul. I have an appointment for Thursday and a second shot in two weeks. I am ecstatic. And, I'll be going to a vaccination site just 90 minutes from my older daughter's house.

Added at 5:13 CST...after reading the article quoted below, it is quite amazing that I got an appointment.

 

[RSteve]

Seniors surge to Minnesota COVID-19 vaccine registration site

New appointments will come each Tuesday at noon for people 65 and older seeking COVID-19 vaccination.

By Jeremy Olson Minneapolis Star Tribune

JANUARY 19, 2021 — 2:05PM
Minnesotans 65 and older clogged phone lines and crashed a state website on Tuesday afternoon as they sought to make appointments for a new, limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine at nine test sites.

Online registration launched at noon but was halted within an hour due to "extremely high" traffic, according to the website. A state official said as of 2 p.m. that 4,171 of roughly 6,000 appointments had been booked, and that the website had been receiving 2,000 hits per second and peaked at 10,000 hits per second.

Some people tried calling the state registration hotline and were greeted with auto messages saying, "your call cannot be completed as dialed." Others received "502 Bad Gateway" error messages on the registration website, or at least proceeded to an online waiting room where they — indeed — waited.

"I sat there for more than 45 minutes, nothing happened," said Clifford Brown, 79, of Minneapolis via e-mail. "I tried to refresh my screen and got the message that the application was 'offline for maintenance'. Later when I tried to connect again I received the message 'application error'. While I was waiting, I tried the dial in lines to no avail."
The state expected to receive 60,000 more first doses of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine this week, and diverted 12,000 doses to this new group of senior citizens as well as teachers and child-care workers.

The rest will continue to be used on the first priority group of health care workers, who are at elevated risk for infection with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and long-term care residents, who have suffered 64% of MInnesota's 5,945 COVID-19 deaths.

Seniors were encouraged to sign up online starting at noon Tuesday for appointments on Thursday and Friday, while school districts had been allotted limited vaccine appointments to make available to teachers.

At the strike of noon, seniors called the Star Tribune and reported problems. John Wodele, 73, of Minneapolis, said he was sympathetic as someone involved in state government leadership in the past, but wondered if the hassle was worth the payoff.
"Why put us through this call in or online scheduling for 12,000 shots," he said. "Nothing but frustration — one doesn't answer and the other doesn't work."

As designed, the state website hands people off to a registration portal maintained by Primary.Health, a software company that manages, streamlines and automates COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs. The company also has been involved in online registration for COVID-19 tests in Minnesota.

If appointments are available, people select their desired times and location and then enter basic identifying information. They also are asked to schedule appointments for second doses as well, which for the Pfizer vaccine must be administered three weeks after the first doses.

"We think it's really important for people to book both appointments at the time of registration," said Sunshine Moore, a spokesperson for the company.

 

[Brewdude]

The sign-up for 65 and older opened today here in Maricopa county (greater Phoenix, AZ area). The rub is that you have to go to one of two drive-thru sites (the second just opened), and while the first one is pretty close to where I live the TV coverage of this is not encouraging. The site near me is open 24/7 and apparently one makes an appointment for a time of their choosing. It's in the massive parking lot of a major sports stadium which must accommodate thousands of vehicles. And there are multiple lanes one gets into to receive the dose which is administered in your vehicle.

All well and good right? Yet according to what I've been given to understand there has been significant misuse of this with an eligible individual bringing in a carload of other people that have not registered and may or may not be eligible. And they all get the shot no matter what. WTF?

TV drone coverage shows massive lines of cars not only in the lanes in the parking lots but on streets leading up to it. Frankly, being stuck in my car for what could be several hrs in a slow moving line has zero appeal. I'll wait until I can get it at my local Walgreens.


No Cheers,

RR

 

[RSteve]

I'll wait until I can get it at my local Walgreens. No Cheers, RR

I know too many people who have died from Covid. If I had to stand in line for hours in sub zero weather, with a butane torch under my nutz, I'd have done it to get vaccinated ASAP. All it takes is one significant exposure and it could mean a terrible avenue to death.

 

[WTHall]

We were all set for the local pharmacy here in Manassas Va. Went in to confirm date and they told us that their delivery was redistributed elsewhere. BTW, Virginia only got, like 1/2 her allotted doses. Pharmacy said they gave their list to the county Health dept. and we could see our shots, like, mid-February. At 74, I'm worried.

 

[RSteve]

Virginia only got, like 1/2 her allotted doses.

MN got a tiny fraction of what was to be the allotment.

 

[RSteve]

This is not intended to be political, so please don't make it. I'm reading that vaccine production far exceeds what has been shipped to the states for distribution. It is my sincere hope that whatever has caused this will be resolved as soon as possible. Over 412 thousand Covid deaths in the U.S., the highest number worldwide. I'm reading too many obituaries of people I know.

 

[Ranger107]

True, read the same news. Said of the 28 million doses available only 8 million had been delivered. Someone needs to get their act together.

 

[ftrplt]

Seems to be the same dang near everywhere!!! Too many people, not near enough doses. Plus nearly all who have gotten their first "***" must have the second one within 21 or 28 days!! So that drains off more doses for everyone else!! And, yes, the so called "signup" systems are totally AFU!!! The one here in Oklahoma is worthless; the one in North Carolina crashed as soon as it opened due to over whelming numbers of people trying to sign on at the same time!!
"Patience, Grasshopper, patience!!" FTRPLT

 

[RSteve]

In the coming days, one can only wonder what Drs. Fauci and Birx will or won't say, by way of explaining the delay in distribution. (Birx has announced her imminent retirement, so she may remain silent.)

 

[RSteve]

What really infuriates me. My 84-year-old brother-in-law has Crohn's Disease. For his Crohn's medication to work, his immune system had to be stripped. His son, my nephew, is a 61-year-old physician on the staff of a major hospital. He cannot get his father vaccinated. If my b-i-l were to contract Covid, it's a death sentence. He has not been out of his town home in almost a year.

 

[RSteve]

Got my first shot today; totally painless injection. The nurse swabbed my arm and the next thing I felt was the band-aid over the injection site. I was told that about six hours after the injection my arm would be quite sore. It's now 9 hours later, and I have slight soreness, if I think about it.

 

[RSteve]

In the coming days, one can only wonder what Drs. Fauci and Birx will or won't say, by way of explaining the delay in distribution. (Birx has announced her imminent retirement, so she may remain silent.)

Birx has remained quiet. You may recall she came under severe criticism for telling people not to have family gatherings for Thanksgiving for which some family had to travel...Then she admitted that she and others gathered for a family Thanksgiving that required her and others to travel.

Fauci says to follow the science and that's what he'll do. He says he feels liberated to talk about the science. Others will have to discuss distribution.

 

[RSteve]

As I wrote earlier, I was told that my arm would get quite sore about six hours after vaccination, but it took about 10 hours before I began to feel soreness. The following day, the arm was quite sore and is still a bit sore. Now, I have to wait three weeks before shot #2. Needless to say, I'm a little nervous about whether there will be enough vaccine for my second shot. My hope is that the Johnson & Johnson one shot vaccine will be released soon, making it far more likely that availability of all the vaccines will increase.

 

[RSteve]

From January 21st: Got my first shot today; totally painless injection. The nurse swabbed my arm and the next thing I felt was the band-aid over the injection site. I was told that about six hours after the injection my arm would be quite sore. It's now 9 hours later, and I have slight soreness, if I think about it. Booster, three weeks from today.

Today, I received this by email and text message eight times:

Dear Sir, it has come to our attention that you were able to make a vaccine appointment even though you were not randomly selected for the COVID-19 Vaccine Pilot Program this week. As a result, we regret to inform you that your appointment is unauthorized and no longer valid. With that said, as long as you are already pre-registered with the state’s vaccine pilot program, you will remain on the pre-registration list and continue to have the opportunity to be randomly selected for an appointment in the future. If you are already on the registry, you do not need to register again or take any additional action at this time. More information on the status of the pilot program beyond this week will be provided in the near future. Thank you for your patience and understanding. IMPORTANT: Please do not visit any vaccine pilot location. Walk-ins are not accepted and you do not have an appointment at this time.

And later received this twice:

Dear Sir,
This morning, you received a message from us indicating your appointment was unauthorized and invalid. That was an ERROR and we sincerely apologize for any confusion. Your appointment is confirmed. Please show up to your appointment as previously scheduled.