Israel can certainly argue with itself over many things, including its national identity – just look at the political party fragmentation and the difficulty of building and keeping a majority government there.
But its COVID-19 vaccine speed may have more to do with its existing well-built-up and cost-efficient public health infrastructure.
Of course the ones who were careless and played COVID-19 lottery and won long-haul prizes are unlikely to be able to go and do as many thing socially as they used to be.
Georgia begins 1A+ tomorrow which includes those 65 and older. The county most of my family lives in said they would open online registration sometime around January 11. Because I am obsessive 
I have checked the page at least twice an hour when home and awake since Friday; I really didn’t expect the site to become live until today. Late this morning I refreshed the page and it showed the screen to make appointments. I frantically started typing my mother’s information, while yelling for my husband to call my aunt and uncle; if we could get their appointment together, my uncle would take them all together. Once those appointments were done, my husband started working on his brother, then his step mom. My MIL is due to get hers at her building, but not until the end of the month.
I must have hit the site right when it went live, as all Monday appointments were available; within an hour or so, the site was down, showing all appointments filled. They may add more for this week if more doses arrive; I was just excited to get mom taken care of so I didn’t have to play this game all week. It is like trying to get those high demand concert tickets, where you keep refreshing the screen!
I just hope I don’t have to do this for the second dose also, but am afraid I will.
So if there isn’t enough gatekeeping, anyone will be able to sign up. After the first priority group (or 2) is done, it will be chaos if anyone/everyone can sign up with no real verification (honor code doesn’t count).
@snowball my mom is in Tennessee but encountered the same system as GA. She reported that they set up her second shot when she received the first. Hoping that is the same with your relatives
The few people I know that got the first dose they all have appointments set for the second automatically.
I mentioned up thread that I am trying to help my 90 y/o aunt who lives on her own get the vaccine in MA while I’m in NJ. I found the MA COVID very unhelpful. I thought it was just me missing something but I guess not. Even NJ, not usually known for it’s infrastructure, has a state-wide website that I’ve already registered on.
The folks I know in CT all received an email from VAMS CDC the evening of their first shot which reminded them to set up the second one. This probably is what VAMS does. It’s an online account thing to deal with setting up Covid vaccines.
I know people elsewhere where their appointments were set up when they got their first shot…so I think this varies depending on the site and the protocol they are using.
Does anyone know anything about VA? All our VDH website seems to show are the phases and what phase we are in. It doesn’t anything about registering on a website, where to go to get vaccinated when it’s your turn, etc. How will you even know it’s your turn? It just seems very muddled.
All I know is my nephew (ER nurse) got his on the third day and is now fully vaccinated. I am happy for him. They are saying teachers may get one at the end of the month/early Feb. No word on how, but I suspect it will be offered similar to the flu shot. My workplace covers police/fire and the rest of us are supposed to be phase 1c, so I assume we should be setting up through our health clinic like the flu shot. But so far, crickets.
The VDH website does show how many shots are given per day. Yesterday was 117 state wide. I am not impressed.
Today the director of the Maine CDC shared something I hadn’t thought of. He said the state made plans based on the proportion of Moderna vs. Pfizer doses they thought they would receive. For some reason, they got a lot more Pfizer doses than they expected and fewer Moderna doses. That obviously changed their distribution plans, since the Pfizer vaccine is harder to store. This is another example of why states can’t tell you when people will get vaccinated. There are a lot of variables.
Not sure the main complaint is telling people when they may be vaccinated, but the simple fact is that only ~30% of the current vaccines have been used to-date. Sure, if a HD gets 5000 more vials of Pfizer, it may have to shift a gear. But how hard would it be to say, ‘we have 5k more vials in downtown Portland, all seniors 75 and older who live near the HD come on down?’
Our local County just figured out that first year nursing students can give jabs, so they will be jabbing (under the supervision of a faculty member) in tents in hospital parking lots.
I was just looking up some general information about the vaccine and covid stats for the weekend and found this from the CDC about the vaccine distribution and administration by state. Found it pretty interesting. CDC COVID Data Tracker
We are in California and my grandmother is in a home with less than 10 residents, but we still do not have any information on when she will be vaccinated. My parents will be in the next group after that (over 75). H and I are in the everyone else group as we are both over 60 and healthy. We can continue to work remotely as long as needed so no rush for us. I just really want my grandmother and my parents to get the vaccine.
Well my mother, aunt, uncle and BIL, all got their first vaccine in our county today, but things did not go smoothly. My husband and I registered then all yesterday, when bookings opened; I was lucky to check soon after the system went live. All were scheduled at the location closest to my home, just because we knew where it was and it was closer for most.
My BIL received an email this morning that his location was being changed; not a big deal as he actually saw the email and wasn’t too terrible far from his home. It would have been a problem if he was taking my MIL; luckily she is scheduled for Wednesday and my husband is taking her. Mom and my aunt and uncle still were scheduled together. One would think that was good news, but it was a cluster! There was no organization, people, ages 65 and up, were crammed into a hallway; my uncle said there were close to 200 people with no social distancing. Mom said she stayed in for 10 months only to be thrown into the lions den and might get Covid because she went for a vaccine. She is so upset and is threatening not to get the second vaccine; I am hoping it will be better organized in 3 weeks, assuming there are vaccines or appointments to be had. You have to call or wait for the online system to be back up in a few weeks to scheduled the second dose.
I feel so badly for my family members as mine was so easy. I went to a small health department 3 weeks ago as medical. There were only 6 of us there at the same time. What boggles my mind is that each state was aware the vaccines were coming; did no one bother to figure out how they would be distributed?
CT residents ages 75 and older who don’t reside in nursing homes will begin having vaccines next week. There will be outreach to them multiple places where their birthdays are noted. In addition, CT will be using the VAMS online scheduling and this info will be made available for all. Eligible folks in phase 1B can sign up and make an appointment.
For those without computer access, there will also be a phone way to schedule an appointment.
They are anticipating this group will begin getting their first shots on Jan 18.
So if you know anyone in CT, be on the lookout for that website or phone number.
Vaccines will be administered by appointment only. No walkins.
I’m so sorry to hear this @snowball. Everyone I know had to wait in the “virtual waiting room” aka your car until your appointment time came. No large groups in the same place at the same time.
I hope this is better for the next round.
My mother had an appt in NJ at a place that was pretty far away from her in early Feb. Tonight I just went online and they opened up whole bunch appts on Jan 18 (MLK holiday). I quickly grabbed one for her in the morning because I am going to see her over the long weekend. In NJ I am in 1C, but I made an appt for myself at the same time as her. Let’s see what happens. I am more comfortable I will be there to take her.
One of our patients is a resident of a 55 and older community and she said they finally got their sign up days/time for the end of January. (IL)
They’re still working on health care workers in my state. I’m in phase 1b, along with 20% of the population. There’s a news report that they may start making appointments for phase 1b this week.
@thumper1 Thank you! I hope I’m able to sign my mom up through VAMS. She is over 80 and we moved her in with us when everything locked down in March. She is here indefinitely with no plans to move back, but her doctors are still out of state, 3 hours away.