Covid vaccines roll outs in your state or location

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
487

My son was on a supply chain logistics project at one point. They had a team from his company plus another Accenture team that worked for 3 years for one division of his company. It was a huge undertaking.

When the federal government decided to let the states implement vaccine rollout, with very little lead time, it is bound to have some issues. And very different outcomes depending on the complex situations that each state has.

So I understand how frustrating this is. And I hope that it is going to get better.

488

Looking ahead a several months for sure, but I had a question about both vaccines. Are they both currently approved for 16+years? Any thoughts on clinical testing in the 12+ group and when vaccines for teenagers might roll out?

My 17 yo was able to register on the state website. He takes a DE class at the local university. They had emailed all of their students a link.

State website registration includes vocation, employer, age, comorbidities, insurance info. They will email or text you a code for signups when you are eligible.

My husband works on a military base. They are planning vaccinations for civilian and military personnel and dependents. People who travel for work and risk bringing it back on base are at the top of the list.

Walmarts in town have now started offering shots to 75+, I believe. Maybe younger too, with comorbidities. Walgreens and CVS I think are still making the rounds to group living homes. Also one of the grocery store chains has started offering shots.

489

My understanding is that the Pfizer vaccine is approved for 16+ and Moderna, for 18+.

490

I got an email last week from the NJ state registry that I am now eligible for the vaccine. I’ve been checking their links for days. Also signed up with the county. This morning I linked to the Centra State Medical Center (Freehold) site from the NJ site, and sent in a vaccination request. Unlike all the other vaccine centers, it did not say “no appointments available at this time.” And they just called me back! I have an appointment for the 1st shot this Wed., and the 2nd shot on Feb 17. I got lucky!

They call you during the week of your request if there is an available appt. They only call you twice, and if they miss you, you are bumped off the list and you have to renew your request. You must take the appt. times offered; no bargaining. If you’re flexible and can jump on an appointment offer right away, try Centra State, NJ residents!

My husband is a higher priority than me, but he cannot get the shot for at least two weeks because he is having surgery. I feel bad that I am getting it before he is, but I also do not want to delay either; it does him no good if I do.

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491

Only Pfizer has 16+. They announced last week that they completed enrollment in 12-15 year olds. Now have to analyze the data and work with FDA for approval. BUT most 12-15 year olds will be low on the vaccination priority list.

Moderna is 18+, and has made a statement that their trial in teen ages (can’t remember the range) is enrolling more slowly then they’d like.

Parents are less likely to sign up their kids (especially ones without covid risk factors) for a vaccine trial to prevent a disease that is unlikely to harm the kid.

Under 12 year old trials will also likely take a while, no one has started those AFAIK. Fundamentally we can’t get to herd immunity without a fairly high proportion of the 70M-80M under 18s getting vaccinated.

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492

Petco Park super site drive through facility was finally getting into gear when it got hit by heavy winds and rain much of the last 24 hours. Apparently there’s some damage that needs to be repaired. It must be bad; the winds tore apart the canopy over our deck gazebo. They had just opened up to over age 65 on last Saturday, but now they’ve rescheduled all of today’s appointment to Thursday, and all of tomorrow’s (including mine) to this coming Saturday.

Presumably this means they had not yet opened up times past Wednesday. Hopefully it does not mean they double booked! It will be a madhouse Wednesday morning because the county of San Diego had been tweeting conflicting info, including at one point telling everyone whose appointment was cancelled to come any other time this week. Fingers crossed it will be straightened out by Saturday.

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493

Very frustrated. Healthy young adults are getting the vaccine, as they are lying about being caregivers for their parents (I was told directly and these people are not caregivers of their parents). Meanwhile H is 62 with many co-morbidities (heart condition, cancer survivor, overweight) and he will be clumped with everyone else when pre-existing conditions and likely wont see the vaccine until late spring (if he doesnt catch Covid first and ends up on a vent). If he was 3 years older he could get the vaccine. I can wait, but he needs this vaccine more than the healthy soccer mom that has cut in line. His mental health at nearly a year of being careful and scared is getting to him.

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494

And I’m having a good day. Work said they are getting/giving 200 shots/week starting next week. We have 1200 employees and I’d guess 1/3-1/2 at least won’t take it. So even if I’m way down on the priority list, it’s coming?!

And H got an email from a friend where they are asking for volunteers for another 500 shot clinic Friday. If you volunteer and fall into 1b/1a you can probably get vaccinated then. But H will only be 6 days from his shingles shot, so he probably should wait. I’m not sure I want to be f2f with 500 people in the hopes of getting it a few weeks early especially since I may be 1c. And they said volunteers would get them if supply permits. So I think I’ll pass. But it makes me hopefully that it will happen before July.

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495

Today when I was doing my grocery pick up, I was listening to the news on the radio. I do not remember which news outlet I was listening to. It said that California was thinking of changing their system of prioritizing vaccines. Instead of this 1A and 1B, which seems to keep adding people to it, they want to change to prioritizing strictly based in age.

75+ then, 65+, 55+ and so on.

I wonder what people think of this idea?

It seems to me that things now are so complicated. We have or soon will have our front line health professionals vaccinated. I hear that nursing homes are being completed also or will be soon. Once these are done, I wonder what is the best system for the rest of the American population.

My husband through his work is an essential worker, I thought that his company would administer vaccines but that doesn’t seem to be happening. He also has several commodities and an autoimmune disease, none of which are listed in the literature I see for my state, Michigan. So we are firmly at the end of the line right now.

496

I think by age benefits everyone, at least at first. With hospital workers vaccinated and the older population getting access to vaccines, that takes immense pressure off the ICUs.

No one wants to be infected, but it would be infinitely worse to get covid and not have access to treatment.

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497

I’ve thought that’s what they should have done all along - after the obvious healthcare workers and nursing home people. It’s way too hard figuring out who should be ahead of who - and proving you’re in this or that category. Go by age and go fast. Don’t worry about finishing a category. Leave open enough slots of 50-70% of that demographic. Once that has passed, move on to the next one. Older people can still make appointments for the subsequent groups.

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498

Correct!

What I heard was if there had been a move to the next age category but an older person registers, they get priority.

It seems so easy instead of this convoluted system there is now.

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499

"It said that California was thinking of changing their system of prioritizing vaccines. Instead of this 1A and 1B, which seems to keep adding people to it, they want to change to prioritizing strictly based in age.

75+ then, 65+, 55+ and so on."

The State has already lowered the limit to 65+, where it has been for a couple of weeks. Each County is doing its own thing, however, so some remain in the 75+ grouping.

Just googled the issue:

There’s a whole lotta folks in the ‘essential worker’ category
before dropping to age 55+.

500

CT is “staggering” it’s stage 1B rollout simply because it would be impossible to do everyone in 1B at once. Folks over 75 are first. Folks over 65 are next as well as folks under 65 with other medical conditions (supposed to start second week of Feb). Then all first responders who were not included in 1A.

Teachers are the last in 1B, and I really wish they were higher up on the list.

CT has also set up a number of large drive through vaccine sites, and is setting up more of these. In addition, some Walgreens drugs are also able to administer the vaccine.

Of course, this is all dependent on available vaccine supply.

501

The problem is that there are so many deserving people in the queue, that it’s starting to feel like some sort of “Hunger Games” despotic fantasy

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502

I know
but I view teachers teaching in person as very essential personnel. I wish they had been in 1A.

I’m glad for anyone who receives the vaccine. The goal is to immunize as many as possible as quickly as possible. And it’s a challenge to get all of this done. I’m pleased to see my state (CT) increasing their sites, and the volume of people they will be seeing daily.

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503

There was a WSJ op-ed piece on this. If I recall correctly, after the healthcare workers and nursing home people, the writer advocated simple groupings by age. It is easy to track and not subject to being gamed. I think we start to get into subjective values when we start making up priorities based about who benefits the economy or the social order more. Then verifying who are in these groups adds another layer of complexity in the distribution.

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It will be popular on this forum section, which tends to have mostly older people (but probably lower risk than average compared to the similar age general population) on it.

Hasn’t this thread shown that? Posters complaining about queue-jumpers, posters complaining about slowness because of the prioritization categories and attempts to stop queue-jumpers, posters saying that the prioritization should be changed to what moves themselves up in the queue, etc


With current supply far less than current demand, there will be rationing, which people do not like. But, as much as people complain about current rationing methods, most will probably react even more negatively if the vaccines were rationed by market pricing, like many other scarce goods and services are.

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505

Israel did it by age. But then again they have plenty of vaccine. they are down to 40 and up and added in 16-18 year olds and all teachers. but they started with the higher age groups. Watching them closely. I dont see the cases really falling, or ICU admissions , so not sure what is going on there. They are also in shutdown. Would it be worse otherwise? Will have to see what happens there in the next weeks are more and more get the 2nd shot.

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506

Dr. Shah’s words from today’s briefing, 1/26/2021:

"I’d like to take a second to talk about where we stand with vaccines and vaccinations. We’ve had a lot of folks who have reached out to us, as well as healthcare providers and hospitals across the state, asking us when, where, and how they can be vaccinated. That’s encouraging. We are heartened by the fact that so many individuals across the state of Maine can’t wait to be vaccinated. Indeed, folks will remember just a few months ago, the national conversation was “If there’s a vaccine that’s made, will folks want to take it?” I’m encouraged and really happy that there are so many folks in Maine who have decided that vaccines and vaccinations are the right thing for them.

We know that right now, the number of individuals that want to be vaccinated greatly outstrips the supply of vaccine that we have available. And so I’d once again like to ask for your patience. We are hoping, working with our colleagues at the CDC that more vaccine is on the way, and when that happens, we will be able to turn that vaccine around to healthcare providers in Maine who can then open up more slots and provide more shots into arms.

Well, there are a number of questions we know that have come up that I’d like to address head on. The first is: “Why can’t I sign up and then be contacted when it’s my turn?”

Now, some facilities across Maine, whether they are clinics or hospitals, may already have the ability to do that type of preregistration now or in the very near future, but as of right now, we are working still to bring on a statewide platform. That platform is being built right now, so that once it’s live, everyone across the state can sign up, can raise their hand and say I would like to note my interest in being vaccinated, so that when a vaccine is available at a site that is close them, they can be contacted. We are not there yet. It is being worked on. You might say, “Well, why aren’t you there yet?”

There are a couple of reasons for that. The first is that the previous administration had plans in place to create just that nationwide, unified IT platform that would be available to all states and jurisdictions that would do, among other things, that type of preregistration. But what ultimately came out, a system called VAMS, didn’t meet anyone’s expectations, and as a result the state of Maine and many other states had declined to use it because it did not actually solve the problems we had. As a result of that, all states including Maine are looking for other options. I don’t want to create a system that merely takes names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. I want to have a system that actually takes those preregistrations and then allows us to do something with them. In some parts of the country they have those preregistrations set up but there’s not a plan in place to take that information and actually bidirectionally reach back out to people when a time and slot is open. As I’ve talked about before, I’m not the type of person that just does half a loaf. I want to make sure that when we have a solution, it’s a solution where we’ve played the chess game through to the very end, and it’s a solution that actually solves the problem in front of us. We don’t have that available yet, but we are working to bring it on. Once again, I do ask for your patience. We want to get it right, rather than just get it fast.

A related question that’s also come in to us is: “Why isn’t my doctor’s office contacting me so that I can be vaccinated?”

And the answer there is that some doctors’ offices, some outpatient clinical practices will be offering vaccines, but not all. We’ve decided to try to prioritize vaccine for places that can get as many shots into arms as quickly as possible. When Maine gets vaccine into our borders, our hope is to turn those around and get them into arms as quickly as we can. Some physicians’ offices will have the capacity either on their own to do that sort of high throughput vaccination, or perhaps as a consortium of physicians’ offices who get together and offer vaccine to their patients and those in their community on an occasional basis to set up larger scale clinics. Some will be able to do that, but not all. The other important piece to note is that much of this consideration to focus vaccines in places that can get as many shots into arms as quickly as possible- whether it’s an FQHC or a consortium of physicians, or a hospital- is driven by the fact that right now we are still extremely supply constrained. This week alone, Maine is getting about 18,000 doses of vaccine. When you compare that against the fact that there are over 190,000 people alone in Maine who are 70 and over, you see right off the bat that there are many more people who wish to be vaccinated than we have doses available. If that were to change- when that changes- when supply is no longer our principal constraint, we hope to be able to provide vaccine far and wide to providers across the state, whether they are independent medical offices, or whether they are pharmacies in your neighborhoods. For right now, with such a limited supply, we’re focusing on places that can get as many shots into arms. Maybe that’s a large throughput public facing site, maybe it’s a consortium, maybe it’s a hospital. Those are places where vaccine can come in the door and get put into arms without wasting a single dose.

Another question that’s come in to us is: “Why don’t all hospitals have a way to register and get in the queue?”

Once again, this is only a matter of time. I’ve had the opportunity, as has Commissioner Lambrew, to speak with hospital leaders at all different types of hospitals across the state- whether they are hospitals associated with big systems or hospitals that are independent- to talk to them about the ways they are going about scheduling and registering patients. Again, it’s only a matter of time before all hospitals in the state are able to register everyone and give them a spot in the line. This again is subject to vaccine availability, but I want everyone to know that this is being worked on and we hope that those systems are ready and available soon.

The last question that’s come in to us is: “This is all well and good, but what if I don’t use a computer?”

We hear that. We understand that concern particularly in Maine. We want everyone to know that we are setting up phone lines through a call center that can be used by anybody- whether it’s you yourself calling to set up an appointment for you and your spouse, or maybe you’re calling to set up an appointment for your parents or your in-laws. Once again, we want to get this right rather than just get it fast. So I once again ask for your patience as we are setting up all of these systems- doing so correctly, doing so thoughtfully, doing so in a manner that actually solves the problems we have, rather than just putting something up that’s cosmetic- that’s the way that we like to do business. Doing business in that manner, especially because the federal solution did not pan out, means that we have to make sure we get it right and that’s why I’m asking everyone for your patience. Hopefully by the time these systems are set up and fully operational, we will start seeing more and more vaccine coming into the state of Maine, so we will have the happy union of access coupled with more vaccine. But those days, those times are still a little bit ahead of us, and so in that meantime I once again ask for your patience and your cooperation. Please know that we are working as fast and as diligently as we can to get all of these things set up so that when they’re ready to go they’re useful to everybody.

One final note before I turn to our colleagues in the media: in recent days, Maine CDC has received reports of phone calls coming in from an 844 area code number. The folks who are calling from this 844 area code number purport to be either contact tracers or people claiming to be confirming a vaccine appointment. In both instances, these individuals have asked for the person’s social security number that they are calling. I want to remind everyone that Maine CDC contact tracers do not and will not ask for your social security number. If you get a phone call from somebody who claims to be a contact tracer and asks for your social security number, or you just get a bad vibe about them- feel free to hang up and dial the main line at the Maine CDC, or to ask for the number that you can call them back at. If that number is not what you see on the Maine CDC’s website, please be skeptical. If you are being asked for your social security number from someone who is claiming to know things about you, whether they are a contact tracer or whether they are calling to tell you that your vaccine appointment has been confirmed, it’s reasonable to exercise a skeptical eye. Don’t ever feel shy about asking that person for their ID number, or asking that person for a phone number, and if that phone number is not what you see associated with the Maine CDC, your doctor’s office, your local hospital, please know to be skeptical and exercise extreme caution. We’ve already reported these reports to the Attorney General’s office to their Consumer Protection Bureau, but I wanted to make sure and remind everybody that often and unfortunately as we’ve seen during times of COVID, there are individuals who will take advantage of concern, anxiety and fear and use that to potentially perpetrate scams. Always be on the lookout, especially if the individuals are asking you for private information like your social security number."

-Dr. Nirav Shah, Director, Maine CDC

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