Same thing happened in VA. Here in northern VA INOVA hospital had a big vaccine center and worked the kinks out with their staff. They could process a lot of people but then the state quit sending them vaccines.
The following is info that I have gathered to help a neighbor: Publix is distributing vaccines, they have a difficult site to navigate, your mom may need some help with this. Winn Dixie offers vaccines in Sarasota, Bradenton and Apollo Beach. Manatee County: Manatee County is implementing a COVID-19 vaccine standby process that allows seniors ages 65 and older to avoid waiting lines by pre-registering by phone or online with the County if theyâre interested in receiving vaccines beginning to arrive locally. Pinellas and Hillsborough County you must register with CDR Maguire and they will contact you with a code and phone number to call for an appointment, (my neighbor has been on this list for 2 weeks and has not yet been contacted). I donât know if she is able to get to any location outside of Sarasota. Everbridge is the independent registration site for Sarasota County. Best of luck, it is crazy to try to get an appointment down here.
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They are making changes in NYC now to address the disparities. Those measures could have been put in place from the get-go. Itâs not as if they didnât have months and months to plan distribution.
Just need to somehow get government out of the equation when it comes to distribution. I donât understand why people think government can do it better, faster, cheaperâŠthatâs never been the case: the VA, DMV, POâŠyou name it. Sorry for the snark but itâs just ridiculous. The reason we even have the vaccine so quickly is because government was pushed out of the way for the most part. Look what happened early on when the CDC was in charge of testing development.
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MA also pulled vaccine supplies from hospitals and private practices. BUT pharmacies and supermarkets are still getting supply. Money talks.
Absolutely. How mass vax is handled in my county. You get a âticketâ with a half hour window. This spreads the wait at the center vs a 3 hr or longer window.
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Thank you for all that great information! I had tried Publix, they had listed no vaccine for Sarasota, I will keep checking. I didnât know about Winn Dixie.
Iâve got the text alerts and emails sent to me for Everbridge, so that we donât miss the 2 hour window.
Thanks again!
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I really question the Mass. decision to open up age 65+ and 2 co-morbidities at the same time. Partly this is self interest, I admit, because I have an aunt and uncle (early 70s) and a sister in law (65), who now have to battle it out for appointments with hundreds of thousands of younger people, and I am absolutely certain there will be fraud, the only question is on what scale. But, I was also persuaded by an article I read (sorry, canât remember where, WaPo maybe), arguing that the best approach is to do all age 65+ first, not only because itâs quick and impossible to game, but also because those are the people most likely to get severe disease and die, and after all many in that group have co-morbidities as well. The article also made an interesting point about the disproportionate Covid impact on African Americans and Latinos versus whites and Asian Americans. For whites and Asians, death rates spike significantly around age 75, but for Black and Latino people, it spikes earlier, around age 65, due to socio-economic and environmental factors â so doing 65+ helps to address that disparity.
In terms of my familyâs experience with the Mass. rollout so far, it was, oddly, easier for my mom and stepfather in western Mass to get their first shots than it was for my father and stepmother in Cambridge. I now realize how lucky mom/stepdad were to get their shots at their primary care doctorâs office, because as others have said, doctors are not getting much if any vaccine (and I think thatâs happening across the country; the NY Times had an article about it). My father and stepmother in Cambridge, meanwhile, were at first not trying to make appointments because they were convinced that something would open up closer to them, preferably at their doctorâs office. Well, thank goodness my brother and I got on them to stop being so choosy and to just get an appointment wherever they could, because their doctors never did get the vaccine, and now the floodgates have been opened with the new eligibility groups.
The MA companion program is a problem right now, too.
I am wondering if Microsoft Edge is a problem on some of these sites. One suggested Chrome Safari or Firefox. My computer is in S mode and am considering getting out of it.
I have spent the morning figuring out the system and fully realize that when the site says availability, that is no longer true once I finish putting my name etc. in!
My husband is having the same problem. He wasnât able to get in all morning. Then this afternoon it keeps crashing as he is inputting his information and then the slot disappears. He used to work in software development and has been complaining like crazy about the incompetence of whoever created the site.
Yes, Iâve been having the same issue in MA - specific appt times are no longer available by the time I get to the verification part. Frustrating too to be unable to plug in âany available apptâ which would work for some of us.
Iâm a little surprised at the WA state mass-vaccination sites. No ID required? Our local health department opens drive-through events approx. once per week at various locations. You need to very quickly go online, usually a few days in advance when they are announced. Similar to othersâ experiences, by the time you register your information (they do not store it), most slots are gone.
If youâre lucky to secure a spot, the website then progresses to ask age, date, address, etc. However, when you actually go to the event, they simply look up your name on a printed list, ask you to sign a few additional forms, and proceed in line. No one ever asked for his ID or even insurance.
âJust need to somehow get government out of the equation when it comes to distribution.â - Not sure how that could be done. In theory it could be done via medical providers, but it seems that would favor the people with good insurance that have a PCP. I did laugh at the Facebook meme that suggested that Amazon drivers could get vaccines done for all Americans by next Wed ⊠or Mon if using Prime 
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Me neither. But Amazon just might save us!
Regarding MA, there were over 1500 appointments available mid-morning at Gillette Stadium, probably also openings elsewhere. I would get part way through the personal information, insurance etc. and then would get an âapplication error.â
My computer is a PC in Microsoft S Mode. That means the only browser possible is Edge. One pharmacy site told me I should be using a different browser.
I just opted out of S mode and the state website seems to work better, however the slots are gone. No problem. Iâll catch some one of these weeks.
But it was frustrating to come so close and the whole time I assumed the problem was the state websites. The fact that between each of my attempts a hundred or so were succeeding made me start to wonder if it was my browser.
Donât need more problems accessing so hope using a different browser helps! I am patient, just wanted to set things up for eventual success.
Husband and I just made it all the way to putting in the signature (comes after insurance info) and then it kicked us out and said there were no appointments available.
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Does your computer have the âoldâ Edge browser or the ânewâ (Chromium-based) Edge browser?
The ânewâ one may work better on web sites that have mainly been tested with Chromium-based browsers.
Thanks @ucbalumnus, not sure about the old versus new Edge, but as long as one vaccine site told me to use a different browser, it was worth opting out of S mode. I called Microsoft to discuss and they told me there was no downside (despite what the store says).
@me29034 sympathies! I was astounded to see almost 1600 appts. pop up for two days this week, at Gillette, and it took awhile for that number to go down. Weâll have better luck next week maybe. Good luck to you!
@compmom, it is just beyond belief that your daughter would not be considered to have an eligible underlying condition. I would be livid if I were you. I can totally understand your frustration.
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I have found, at least in NY, the biggest bulk of appointments come up Friday night - Monday morning. Maybe itâs just a coincidence but I have to assume thatâs the timeframe that many pharmacies find out how many doses they will get for the following week. Perhaps? Anyway, Iâve signed up probably 15 older people and thatâs been my observation.
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