@bluebayou Yes. I know it’s a holiday. But in an emergency, holidays shouldn’t matter. The work to prevent deaths should go on. The doctors and nurses on the COVID wards weren’t taking the holiday. If there’s a fire or an earthquake on a holiday, the emergency workers work. COVID is an emergency. If there are vaccines available, get them into arms, holiday or not.
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Holding my breath that the appt I got for my 87 year old mom in Michigan sticks. Michigan opened to 65+ instead of starting with an older population (like here in Ohio we are starting with 80+ then reducing age later). What this ends up meaning is a deluge of people trying to get appointments when some open up. Took me an hour on the health department website which opened at 9am and kept crashing to finally secure something - and I had no faith as the fillable form kept emptying out - but when I finally clicked submit it confirmed an appt time and I received an email confirmation.
When the needle is in her arm is when I’ll believe it!
I’ll add that it was a sweet moment when I called her to tell her - like a moment of joy from her that has been few and far between lately. <3
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Opening up to 65 plus will make it harder for the super elderly to get the vaccinations. I am beyond frustrated that my 94 year old father isn’t yet able to get vaccinated in his county.
Here in California I know of people who are nominally 'health care workers but who work from home who were able to get the vaccination. They are younger and healthy and at little risk of dying both due to age and work circumstances. But only 5% (as of Sunday) of nursing home residents have gotten the vaccine. It really is an outrage and likely there is a lot of ageism involved.
Saw my uncle yesterday and he told me that last week he and his wife took his MIL to get her Covid shot. He is 64 and the nurse asked if he wanted a shot and he said he had not really considered it but he did not qualify. She indicated they had too many and were going to dispose of the extra ones. He took the shot. This was in rural NC. It is crazy…
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In the competitive dog-eat-dog society of the US, people will:
- Get the vaccine as soon as they can if they want the vaccine, rather than wait “what should be” their turn in line (e.g. the work-from-home health care administrators you are complaining about).
- Complain about what they see as queue-jumpers (the people in 1 above).
- Complain that vaccine administration is being slowed down by attempts to define and enforce priority groupings.
Nothing will be satisfactory.
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That’s happening at at lot of places. They would vaccinate people who are there, that’s why I had mentioned before that if you were to go with your parents, spouse, etc you should just ask if they have extra to vaccinate you. You wouldn’t be taking someone else’s spot or jump the line.
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This is why some fear much federal intervention-it is as likely to pull us all down to the lowest common denominator rather than lift some up. Our local mayor Turner has done a great job getting 15k shots out over the last 4 days, rightly takes credit for it, and is accountable for his failures. Accountability seems missing in some places.
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The electronic monitors on 35 out of 50 Moderna shipments sent out around Maine yesterday indicated that at some point during shipping/storage, the temperature exceeded what it was supposed to be. A total of 4,400 doses was affected. 
The sites are going to get replacements today or tomorrow. But what a waste.
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This is a concern. With the stringent handling requirement, it’s almost inevitable that some vaccines will be rendered ineffective. Pfizer vaccines would be even harder to handle.
How long do they have to use them after they exceed the temp? It is a shame they cannot be sent to a large populated area and used immediately. This whole process seems terribly executed. Not saying it is easy but surely it is not this hard.
There is a lot of merit when it comes to vaccinating the general masses, not the special cases of people who have difficulty moving around, to make use of mass vaccination centers. Simplifies distribution, storage, administration and data tracking logistics. At the center in my town, the scheduling software was the same as for event tickets. That type of software has already been stress tested. They do over 1,500 vaccinations a day, and I was in and out in under 45 minutes, including the mandatory 15 minutes waiting to see if there were any adverse side effects.
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Well now… my elementary teacher H was first told end of January for his shot. Then mid to late February. Now it’s “1-2 months.” Ugh.
I’m in group 1b in Illinois and hoping I will be able to sign up starting next week. My county is still holding off scheduling us, but teachers are pretty much at the top of the list in the next group. My parents are also up there and can qualify at some Walgreens, but they’re only scheduling them out a week in advance here and no spots available when I tried to schedule them, so I guess they will try in our county like me when they come on 1/25. My MIL in independent living finally has assigned dates in Feb. It’s starting to seem more disorganized here as my MD ex husband is still waiting for his as his facility is as slow as molasses and finally vaccinating people there but using a very inefficient system to do so.
In other news here, every high school except where my senior goes is basically open for some sort of hybrid learning. K-8 schools are also open. My school has unrealistic metrics. I work at a high school that does have a lot of remote teachers but has had no problem getting replacements or substitute teachers to step up. This is the excuse that some districts around where I live claim is why they weren’t opening previously. That they can’t find substitutes, but they haven’t tried. Mine is ok not going back for now, but happy to see that sports are starting to come back safely and our numbers are going to down, but people need to still be diligent and take care of themselves and be safe. We have not turned the corner yet.
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I was able to sign up for my first vaccination yesterday. The county announced it would open up the scheduling website to those over 65 at noon. I was able to find an appointment at a site 30 miles away, after finding that closer sites were full. But about half an hour after I made my reservation, the scheduling website crashed.
I am over 65 and I am not jumping the line. But given the speed at which I had to jump on the site and find my way around it to find and appointment, I feel for older people who are not computer literate. They, the befuddled and alone, who don’t have younger people to help them; they will lose out in a system like this.
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I am pleasantly surprise that I see open appointments even after CA open vaccination for 65+. Most of openings are for Moderna. It’s more difficult to find openings for Pfizer.
Another day, another delay for elementary teacher H. Now they are saying it will be 2-3 months! 
And, a kid can sit in a classroom all day, go home and come down sick. Nobody else is considered to be exposed and nobody is notified because they sit 6 feet apart and wear masks. And our newest building is 25 years old. Most are from the 50s and 60s.
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With lots of openable windows and doors or none?
I would say poorly ventilated, but I can’t speak for every classroom.
After refreshing multiple sites for hours (and whenever I woke up in the middle of the night), the Wegman’s scheduler popped up in the middle of Cuomo’s news conference and the inaugural festivities. I was able to schedule my 88 y/o mom for an appointment on Friday morning, but I will believe it when I see the shot go in her arm. The site had said that the scheduler would only be available if they had received vaccine but given what’s been going on, I’m skeptical. Hopefully it will all work out.
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What the two biggest medical groups in Northern California are doing, now that they are starting to have vaccine for people age 75+:
Kaiser is telling patients other than health care workers that Kaiser will initiate contact by mail or email when an appointment is available.
https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine
Sutter Health is having patients (try to) call or web schedule an appointment: