Why aren’t hospitals/doctor practices more utilized in distributing the vaccine? First, don’t you want actual medical personnel available in case someone has an adverse reaction to the vaccine? Second, hospitals and their associated medical practices have the records for thousands of patients and their comorbidities so doctors can reach out to the patients rather than the reverse. Third, most communities have atleast one hospital that serves their area and the registration would be more consolidated instead of people putting their names on multiple lists. By farming out the vaccines to so many different entities people are literally chasing appointments and each place receives a very limited number of doses.
In PA the rollout continues to be handled very poorly. My county has 154, 724 eligible (read registered) people and they’re vaccinating approximately 4000 a week. Enough said.
The mass vaccination centers can handle thousands of vaccines daily. In my area, even the medical centers are sharing the county event facilities for their vaccinations. For the drive-through, they have each person pull over to a designated area for 15-minutes post shot. I am sure there are medical personnel on hand in the rare event of an allergic reaction or other adverse event – but they don’t need to have doctors at every separate vaccination station within the mass center – and doctors & other medical personnel have patients they need to treat during the day.
That sounds so organized and efficient! My concern is more about registration efficiency. Seems like organizing it thru a health provider system would work better for those who are a part of one and then the counties can handle people who don’t. In PA all appointment registration is done thru the counties and /or you can hunt for an appointment at a specific pharmacy or other location…very inefficient because it’s every person for themselves. So people are frantically looking for appointments and often sign up on multiple websites hoping to receive an appointment…very inefficient. Also does nothing to help those people without internet availability, where a phone call is needed to set up an appointment.
I don’t know if all pharmacies will have medical personnel on hand. Ultimately this all may become moot once the vaccines are more readily available like the flu vaccines. And I’m probably not getting a shot until June at the earliest at this point.
YES–no more vaccines for hospitals or private practices here in MA. Pharmacies (money talks I guess) are still getting vaccine, even though they are far from high volume sites.
Someone mentioned using NFL stadia as drive through sites: Gillette Stadium has been a mega vaccine site from the start, but there is no drive thru–the news has shown video of people waiting in line outside in the cold. There are parts of the state that are almost an hour drive from a mega site. Fenway Park is a mega site—believe me, no one is going to jump in their car and park near Fenway Park–you need access to the subway.
Governor Baker ran for governor using his past life as the head of Harvard Pilgrim Health, but he seems to have forgotten how to run a health care company.
I’ve been helping older people get appointments online and in the last few days, I’ve noticed a LOT of new spots opening up. I think the pharmacy rollout will make it easier for 65+s in NY.
Well my DH was able to get an appointment at a CVS in Cape May County (2 hours from where we live) this Monday, and a second appointment at the same pharmacy a month later. It took him over 3 hours (from 5 to 8 this morning) online, constantly searching and refreshing the CVS pages. We have the email and text confirmation of the appointments, so we can cancel the AC mega site appointment that was scheduled for the end of March. I’m glad because the anticipated date for his second shot at AC was uncomfortably close to the date of our daughter’s wedding.
To get an appointment soon, you have to ignore the website instructions to check back later. You just have to keep on trying and entering in the place names in the search function over and over. Then you have to be booted out several times in the appointment date area, and keep on trying to get back in.
He’s probably on 5 registries/waiting lists (county, state, medical system, etc.) There seems to be no way to take yourself off these waiting lists and there is no coordination among them. I wonder how valuable they really are, or whether they are just theater to keep people pacified and give them hope. Those who follow instructions from the websites, the state, and the county will give up. They are not going to get the appointments as the vaccines are delivered weekly.
I spent most of last year during “lockdown” regretting moving my 91-year-old father into a congregate care setting; the loneliness and lack of stimulation were terrible for him. But if he weren’t living in one and had to get a vaccine appointment by himself, there is no way he would have gotten a vaccine any time soon. The stated access priorities are not supported by the actual mode of distribution.
I am seeing on local Facebook groups, people posting that there are appointments open at a particular location (drug stores in nearby towns). By the time I check what they post, these appointments are gone. I think these people have good intentions, but once you post something on a public forum like that, they are going to be taken.
Kaiser’s subscriber base may or may not be relevant. The first tier (1a) is health care workers and seniors (Medicare Advantage?), so the data that is relevant right now is Kaiser’s % of both cohorts relative to the state’s priorities.
Of course, if everyone does that, it takes longer to go through the wait lists, since he will get one appointment, then four others will have to check whether he already got an appointment before releasing his place for the next person.
But then it may be kind of like the growing number of applications to reach colleges, or medical schools.
That may work for large practices that have the special freezers and enough volume that wastage of thawed doses is minimal. Large practices certainly can be effective – for example, Kaiser in Northern California has used 97% of the doses it has been given, even though the statewide use is slower at 69%.
However, many people are not associated with the large practices (i.e. their primary physician is in a smaller practice, or they are not well connected to the medical care system), so additional means of distribution is needed in addition to through large practices.
San Diego County had to postpone three days of appointments at Petco Superstation because an expected shipment of Moderna was delayed. Other stations had enough stock but are mainly concentrating on second doses. Hoping no issues by the end of the month when our second shots are scheduled.
Then there should be only one statewide clearing center and database, but there isn’t, and it wasn’t set up that way. People respond to incentives the system, or non-system, creates. I think people should sign up for every waitlist they are eligible for. He’s not signed up for a county or state he doesn’t reside in, and it’s not his fault that there is no coordination. Also, the waitlists contact you and give you a window to respond; if you don’t reply within a fairly short time, they just move down the list and you lose your place. They don’t wait for you to respond before they move on. That’s another reason why the email/text waitlist system isn’t great for a target population that doesn’t have a computer or smartphone and isn’t online constantly. Younger people underestimate just how “offline” some older people are.
I talked to my sister this morning; she took her husband to get a vaccine in Florida. She said that people in the line were talking about how their son in Ohio or granddaughter in Massachusetts went online to get their appointments at Publix for them.
In Texas, they are ENCOURAGING people to apply to as many waitlists as possible. They just ask that if you come off of one, to please take your name off of the others.
And me. I’ve never had a primary doc at all. I go to my OB and that’s it. Until recently, H hasn’t had one either. I’d be in trouble if I had to go to a doc to get a shot.
I happened to be in CT today. Either a lot of people have received their vaccine or people are just done. Traffic was horrible and the parking lots at Stew Leonard’s, Home Depot, Walmart were overflowing. Not being vaccinated, I didn’t stop at any of them.
There is lousy weather predicted here in CT starting tomorrow @melvin123 . You probably saw lots of folks out getting what they think they need for the whole week…because the weather looks lousy for at least five days. I’m talking snow, sleet and freezing rain…the kind of weather that makes slippery roads and the like.
My community hospital in SE PA is involved in distributing the vaccine . They are prioritizing all patients (following state guidelines) that are part of the physician practices associated with the hospital system. I am aware of another hospital in the area doing the same. As you suggested this is possible because they have all patient demographic info, medical record etc. Like everywhere , they do not have the quantity of vaccine they would like.
I do meet the state age guidelines, however ,I have no other risk factors so probably way down the list. With this in mind, after multiple attempts, I was able to secure an appt and had my first shot, at a pharmacy 1.5 hr drive from my home.
Oh, that makes sense. I had also heard that CT was doing a great job with its vaccinations, so I had thought maybe part of it was that. I definitely have vaccine-envy. I can’t wait to get back to seeing people again!