There are also some programs where local college students assist seniors with getting appointments.
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In our area, educators will be vaccinated starting on March 1. It looks like the school districts will be organizing and coordinating vaccinations for their employees. That will alleviate having to compete with the public and also help avoid big subbing issues.
MA has announced it will open up 50K appointments tomorrow morning. For 1 million eligible citizens.
The weekly Hunger Games begin again.
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Why the rush? Why play the āhunger games?ā Why not wait until itās widely available? My extended family has been taking precautions for a year now. I feel very safe going to work, shopping, eating outdoors, socially distanced visits, which is about all oneās able to do now anyway. My mother waited until weeks after they opened it up for her age group, and her and her friends had no trouble getting appointments; in fact, they scheduled them together. I donāt get the craziness. I do absolutely understand the rush for the very high risk groups such as frontline workers, nursing homes, and the like because they arenāt able to take the same precautions the rest of us can. Please donāt jump on me; Iām truly curious why thereās such a mad race to get it. Most places wonāt be opening up right away, and it seems like they still want people wearing masks, so itās not even going to change the way one lives much, at least for a while.
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For me, itās an anxiety/anger issue. I didnāt/donāt feel safe at work and I didnāt/donāt feel H is very safe either. And around here, appointments are not easy to come by unless your employer sets it up, or you were able to get through the first round of CVS appointments. I have not heard of anyone (of any age) being called off the pre-registration list. Those who got to go to the clinics knew people who had a back end way into the system.
Since I had my first shot, my levels of anxiety/anger have been much better overall. I canāt wait until I get my second.
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@taverngirl, I think Iām a bit like yourself but then Iām not usually the person who needs to be first but Iām happily going to get my vaccine when I can.
But I am feeling anxious about my husband getting the vaccine. As he has 2 autoimmune diseases and had a heart attach at 47, things like that will make you worry about your spouse.
I also have only seen my children and my mom once in 2020, my mom didnāt see my sister at all. So Iād like to see my kids and my mom. We live far away, they arenāt in my Covid bubble. I think that if I would have been able to see my loved ones, that I would feel differently.
I know people who have new grandchildren they havenāt seen at all. Or they havenāt seen in a year, kids grow a lot in a year.
There are people who canāt stay home and have to be worried every day going to work if they are going to get Covid. Itās like playing Russian roulette every day, it would be nice not to feel that feeling.
So those are a few reasons why people are wanting to be first and feeling a bit desperate.
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Lots of people seem to have āsocial distancing fatigueā and want to go back to ānormalā. So much so that they are willing to play COVID-19 lottery even when vaccines are just a few months away. Of course, that only makes them want to get the vaccine as soon as possible (unless they are vaccine skeptics or COVID-19 skeptics). That also leads to the feelings of resentment and grievance when people see others whom they feel are āundeservingā getting vaccines ahead of them under conditions of extreme scarcity and the inevitable rationing that is necessary under extreme scarcity (there will be rationing ā it is just how rationing is done, any method of which will leave most people unsatisfied).
Of course, some people do work in jobs where in-person contact or proximity with people who may have COVID-19 is a typical part of the job, so many of them obviously want to get vaccine as soon as possible.
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Any one who has to go or take others to the hospital for treatment can feel very vulnerable. I was in the ER waiting room for two hours today. There were six Covid positive patients there to get monoclonal antibody infusions. They were answering the nursesā questions about all their symptoms. They had tested positive 1-4 days ago, so we knew they were in the peak viral shedding phase (most contagious). It is not a large space and there is no fresh air.
Two of the men had thick beards so their masks were not snug. An older couple had their masks under their noses, and another woman took hers off to eat. They were all coughing.
Due to medical emergencies and other treatment that is not accessible in an outpatient setting, some can not stay home. I am not eligible for the vaccine because my health issue (which my daughters also have) does not qualify. If I get Covid, I will not be eligible for the life-saving monoclonal antibodies either.
To add to my stress, DH is an infectious disease doc who has been treating Covid for almost a year. Because he sees all the sickest people in a densely populated area, he has had many patients in their 40s and 50s, with no previous medical problems, die. He also sees a ton of long Covid.
Please donāt feel bad for asking your questionāhow would you know about this? I did not imagine that Covid positive people would be sharing the same waiting room, or that no one would be enforcing masking or distancing. Thank goodness D21 and I wore KN95s with a surgical mask on top the whole time. 
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@me29034 I just read that 50K more appointments are being released tomorrow, i.e. Thursday for the mass vaccinations sites.
As another option, keep checking pharmacy sites, especially CVS. H and I scheduled both doses this morning at a CVS ā 1st shot on Monday; 2nd in 3 weeks. The CVS site is much better that the state one ā your times are reserved while you fill out all the pages of info. Plus, pharmacies release new time slots on a continuing basis.
I think many are trying to get vaccines before another possible surge in illness due to the variants
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Iām horrified by your experience today! No words 
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Everyoneās situation is different. Not everyone has a bubble, some have been completely isolated for a year. Some have to accompany elderly parents to medical appointments (3SailAway understands this) , some have or want jobs teaching ,or have grown kids thousands of miles away or whatever.
We are all eager for a shot and the current scarcity makes people feel as it the vaccines will permanently run out or something. Scarcity creates this kind of anxiety.
When a movie is over or a plane lands, I tend to stay in my seat until things calm down. But this situation is harder. I am trying for balance. I will most certainly try again to get a slot tomorrow. But will also try to understand that there will be more next week, and the next.
MA Gov. is really working on ways to make sure the neediest communities get vaccines. Community centers in those areas will reserve 50% for those who actually live there. He is also encouraging towns to form regional collaboratives. Finally, two of my health care systems said they will have vaccines next month. In addition to the mass sites and pharmacies. I donāt think you could have more diversified offerings. But there are still not enough doses.
Iām so sorry about your experience and, maybe Iām naive or just uninformed, but I am honestly amazed that the Covid patients are not isolated away from the other ER patients.
And thank your H for all his hard work!
Thank you. I was shocked. If you have a choice of hospitals, I would call ahead and ask whether monoclonal antibodies are being administered, and if so, are those patients in the same waiting room and ER bay. By definition, patients getting antibodies are infectious because you have to have a positive test and be in the first week of illness.
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After two hours, D21 still had not been seen. We left and went to another hospital which is more rural and further away where they are not giving Covid antibody infusions. D19 got the treatment she needed.
Thanks for your appreciation of DH! He swears by masks and googles, but it was such a relief when he got his vaccines.
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A friend posted that Colorado is opening to 1B.3 group on March 5 (I couldnāt find confirmation on that). Good news right? Except there are about 2 MILLION people in that group! 16-64 with 2 medical conditions, grocery store workers, restaurant workers, all front line workers like meat packing plants, transportation workers, postal workers. If you want to be in this group, all you have to do is deliver for Insta, grubhub, Uberā¦
At that point, why exclude the general public? Just fling it open.
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Fedex lately has been the absolute worst! On Feb 14 I went to Fedex to send my daughter her passport in NY from Chicago overnight. It was guaranteed for delivery by 2pm on Tuesday the 16th. Then on Monday I went to Fedex to send my other daughter in Austin her winter coat, gloves and hat, guaranteed overnight by 10am delivery on the 16th. When I asked that time what would happen if she didnāt have it on Tuesday, they specifically told me I would get a refund. I wouldnāt have paid the $30 otherwise and this is when I knew about the severe cold in Texas!
So, fast forward. Neither daughter received their Fedexes on Tuesday. Shocker! By Thursday I was calling wondering what the heck was the deal. The Austin one showed it actually made it to Texas by Tuesday, but was stuck in Dallas. Ok, I could handle that, but they told me no refunds. So besides the fact that they lied when I dropped it off, why the hell do they guarantee overnight delivery? I wouldāve been better off sending it via USPS priority mail for less. It shows up finally on Saturday. So it took from Mon-Sat.
As for the one to NY. Unbelievable in that case. My daughter had her passport appt scheduled on Friday. When I spoke to Fedex on Thurs, the tracking online showed it was still here in Chicago. We had one day only of some bad weather. But on the first time they told me it was stuck because of a storm where my daughter was, FALSE, then the next time they told me it was in Memphis and stuck there because of a storm. No clue if there was any storm in Memphis. She had to cancel the passport appt. That Fedex finally showed up yesterday. So, it took from Feb 14-Feb 23! I couldāve driven it there myself and back 3x faster. What a joke. I will be even more upset if her passport seriously takes 3 months now to be renewed since she is supposed to leave the country in early June. But total joke the postal service and Fedex is right now and definitely cannot be reliable and should be calling anything GUARANTEED DELIVERY or pitching it as such. I feel your pain.
As for the vaccine, I am about to get my second dose on Friday. I work at a school and my district didnāt arrange for teachers to get them first hand but helped facilitate them with the county as best they could since we were in the front of 1b. I was able to get mine in another county before ours opened. This week the district did coordinate to get anyone a vaccine who wasnāt able to get one through the county which is fantastic. K-8 schools are finally opening 100% here. My sonās high school just went back yesterday hybrid 50%. Baby steps. Hoping it will be a little more than that by the end of the year and I think he will finally be walking back in tomorrow. As an educator I can honestly say, once you get back in it is definitely not as scary as people make it out to be if your school is distancing kids, theyāre cleaning, kids and teachers are wearing masks, etc. The vaccine is an extra bonus.
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Yes, there was a storm in Memphis. In fact, they closed the airport because they had no water.
Woo Hoo! I got my husband an appointment at Gillette Stadium for next Wednesday!
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