Teachers and staff here in CA Bay Area are starting to receive vaccination appointments next week. The first round of appointments are designated for school-based Pre-K, Transitional Kindergarten, and K-2 certificated staff, elementary site-based classified staff, and Pre-K office staff.
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The NJ Vaccine Scheduling System is a misnomer. What it does is tell you when you are eligible to enter the Hunger Games to find a vaccine yourself. It doesnât schedule one for you. You get an email telling you that you can now try to get appointments at the various mega sites, pharmacies, and hospitals around the state. Some counties (Essex, Bergen) only accept their own residents.
Itâs very misleading because it implies that the state itself is going to schedule you for a vaccine somewhere. Thatâs not true.
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So thinking about my earlier comment. All the openings I saw this afternoon were at pharmacies in low income minority communities (though they all have some gentrification. Reasons?
-Governor is prioritizing them. Vaccines must have gone to those pharmacies today as a priority with the intention of providing for those most at risk statistically. (Some supply has been delayed by weather and the Gov. was talking about sending the National Guard)
-lots of articles on vaccine reluctance in these communities
-transportation difficulties
-people at work at one or two jobs, not home to navigate
-one computer and kids using for school
and a few others I can think ofâŠ
I am turning 70 and have three comorbidities, a mom dying of loneliness, and kids with health issues, so I am going for it, but just recognizing why I was âluckyâ today.
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I know very few people who were able to get vaccines close to home. From my desk in California I found appointments in PA for my in laws (over 80). They traveled an hour and a half away for their shots. I feel no concern that they took someone elseâs vaccine.
I think your thoughtfulness about your appointment is a beautiful and rare thing. I also think you should feel no guilt getting your vaccine. 
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Iâm a bit late to the game re the distribution issues. But I remember when Hurricane Katrina happened Walmart was the first in the ground, way before FEMA, because they had such a great distribution system already in place. Itâs too bad the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine require such careful handling re keeping cold. I know that Walmart is scheduled to be used (not sure if it is yet or if they have to wait for the J&J vaccine), and I also know that either Eventbrite or Ticketmaster (I canât remember which) was used by some states. Smart. Why reinvent the wheel if you donât have to?
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Some pharmacies in minority neighborhoods are part of a new government program too. The vaccine goes directly to them, not through the states (and a different allotment and supply chain). We have several pharmacies here that are part of this program. I believe they still have to follow the rules for the state (not sure) which would be over 65 or certain professions (teachers, health care, nursing homes) for right now.
My father recently received his 1st shot from the neighborhood that he lived in for 30 years and just moved away from last fall. As a Black man coming back to get his shot in a neighborhood that is overwhelmingly Black (over 75%), he was stunned by the composition of those receiving the vaccine at his former home pharmacy (he estimated at least 90 percent of the people getting the vaccine that day were White).
We have both seen some vaccine hesitancy within our family and friends (especially among the older groups that have been prioritized so far) , but seeing that large of a discrepancy brought back some flashbacks for him of the inequalities witnessed being raised in the Jim Crow south. I have hoped that we would see incentives given to âcoaxâ the most vulnerable in minority groups to get vaccinated, but with the current overall demand still high, that wonât happen. It is tough for me to see some elderly family members haunted by their life experiences enough to reject what could be a life saving vaccine, and tough to see that our institutions are not doing enough outreach to try and overcome that hurdle.
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Here in NC they are tracking the demographics and the Black portion of the population is not being vaccinated proportionately. I am glad that NC is at least tracking this and hope we are taking action based on the results.
Anecdotally, of the (very!) few strangers Iâve talked to about vaccination, Blacks are most hesitant. Wait and see approach. Itâs not unreasonable, in my opinion, given historical facts, but I also hope the state can find a way to get the most vulnerable part of that population comfortable. Even after that there are still big logistical problems to overcome, of course, especially in the rural areas.
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One might have hoped that the extraordinary interest in obtaining the vaccine by many whites, particularly those wealthy, would be sufficient to allay fears within minority communities. Perhaps effective reassurance and education will only come from those within those communities.
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From what Iâve heard, weâve had lots of no-shows here. Itâs easy to book multiple spots and on some sites, not so easy to find where to cancel. Or some just arenât bothering, which is so frustrating.
So itâs entirely possible that @compmom might be âtakingâ a time spot, but isnât âtakingâ a vaccine dose from another eligible person.
I disagree. If a wealthy white person has a reaction to the vaccine, it is reasonable for that person to trust that (1) the system will take them seriously and (2) they have the means to get appropriate care. However, it is not necessarily reasonable for a Black person to assume the former. Past experiences (and unfortunately, sometimes present experiences) indicate otherwise. For anyone, feelings on the ability to get care will depend on a lot of things. Our health care system looks a LOT different depending on means.
Edit: completely agree that building support within the community is the right approach.
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Thanks for pointing out the differences! Itâs important to me to learn these things.
Currently 1 in every 190,000 people who get the vaccine have a reaction requiring medical intervention. Of those that do, 80% had prior severe reactions to shots which alerted them to the fact that this was more risky ahead of time. It is irrational for anyone to hesitate to get the vaccine on this basis, regardless of race.
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This is good to know. Thank you.
Walgreenâs does not allow double booking. You have to cancel one in order to get a different one. However, on the MA site, you could book, say, at Walgreenâs and book somewhere else, and then go back and cancel. Walgreenâs makes it easy to cancel.
I think that low income communities should reserve spots for residents. However, that poses problems as well. You would need an ID with current address in that city, maybe other documentation. Voter list wouldnât work. And with vaccine reluctance, some spots might go unused.
I have reasons not to trust the medical system, as well. I have saved the lives of two of my kids, by being vigilant while they were in the ER or hospital.
I continue to feel uneasy about my opportunity. I think access should be preserved for local residents in high risk areas, but are spots going to be used by locals? That needs to change but I understand reluctance, which I share to some extent.
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I have spent a lot of time reading and trying to understand the science behind the vaccines and the initial data from the trials and believe in their efficacy. But my 86 year old grandmother has had experiences that you and I could not imagine helping raise a black family in 1950âs Mississippi and Tennessee. Part of those experiences deal directly with the Medical profession and treatment that has had a traumatizing effect on her view of the medical establishment. Maybe her insistence that she will not take the vaccine is irrational from a statistical point of view, but she has seen enough to believe that her trust has not been earned. My wifeâs grandmother grew up about 40 miles away from where the Tuskegee Syphilis study (which ran until 1972 and was only stopped due to being reported in the news) took place and she has also rejected the vaccine.
This makes the Covid vaccine roll outs very important to my household as we have distanced ourselves from elderly family members and those with outlying conditions until we can be vaccinated to protect those most at risk in our family. We live in one of the few states (GA) that has not approved teachers yet to be vaccinated which has affected my wife directly, but we are hopeful that she will be vaccinated soon.
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Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on what can be done to help the Black community decide to take the vaccine? Living in the South myself, it seems that the houses of worship would be a good place to start but I am not sure?
Having lived overseas in the developing world for 14 years and staying in touch with friends and family members that still live there (and are unable/unlikely to get a vaccine soon), it is frustrating to see those with the opportunity to get the shot, refuse it. And hard to think it is the right way to proceed by âcoaxingâ anyone.
10-11 months ago, there were loud voices saying that COVID-19 was no more serious than a cold or flu and that we should not worry about it or do social distancing and masks to stop it from spreading. 450,000 dead in the US and many others with long term health effects later, is it a surprise that historically neglected communities that have been hit hardest are least trusting of the messaging about anything related to COVID-19, including vaccines?
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One might hope that the hardest hit would be most eager for the vaccine, particularly when it is clear that highly privileged folks who are not themselves at high risk are nudging them aside to get in line for the shot
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I agree those loud voices were part of the current problem but also some of us by now know many similar age/weight/etc that have experienced the virus with little to no complications.
Also, the messaging from the science community has been mixed. Fauci initially said no masks were necessary then later admitted that he said this so that the masks would be available to the health professionals. I understand why he would do that but at the same time it makes me question anything he says. Current guidance to continue to mask (2 masks if not the N95) even a few weeks post-second shot seem to be unnecessary and probably more designed to keep the entire population masked as many would take advantage of the relaxation and not wear a mask. Just be honest if you want us to follow the recommendations.
My family will get the vaccine as soon as we are able but I am also not overly concerned about any of us getting Covid.
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