Don’t look across your northern border. 
Our papers say that OR is doing a much better job than we manage to do here. While we did well with keeping the virus in check (well is a relative term here), our vaccine distribution is a cluster. There are reports that 500 time slots at some locations are going unfilled (can’t force the horse to drink, can you?) and at the same time, people with eligibility can’t get an appointment because those time slots are not open to them. At least OR can send their kids to school for in person learning soon!
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MA is NOW going to a pre-registration, notifying you when your turn comes up. WHERE WAS THIS FROM THE BEGINNING? It’s like the state is making up their vaccination as we go along. No evidence of prior planning.
Thank goodness we have a governor whose previous job was CEO of a health insurance company!!
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https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/stateprograms/fundedstates/pdf/georgia-state-profile.pdf (from 2012) says that 64.8% of Georgia adults were overweight then (and probably higher now), so this next round will be close to a competitive free-for-all.
This could be what is going on, but you want to check your state’s web site to see if that is the case. States which choose to get as much of each priority group vaccinated as possible before adding the next priority group will move through priority groups more slowly, but people in each priority group are less likely to be left behind when a new priority group is added. Other states moving through priority groups quickly are likely to be leaving some in earlier priority groups behind, and promoting a more competitive atmosphere in getting rationed vaccine appointments within a priority group (possibly what @BunsenBurner is seeing).
Either way, people are going to complain.
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Illinois hasn’t done a bad job, but Lake County AllVax is strictly going by the books and groups, so many people have to go outside of Lake County or to pharmacies and if you’re not tech savy you’re going to have a lot of trouble getting a spot in Lake County.
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50% of everyone in Illinois over 65 has gotten the vaccine, so now they’ve been doing a great job and not moving into other groups. Soon they will start to offer it to 55+. It’s not that we have any shortage, we have huge demand and there is supply but they’re trying to make sure people who qualify get it and Lake County is going strictly by the books. Teachers in Lake County qualified before 65+ because they were considered the most essential to get schools to open since so many of them weren’t. Then they opened to to the elderly. They are doing a ton of vaccines but demand is high.
@3sailaway my daughter in NY just got vaccinated today in Syracuse. Had no problem whatsoever getting in for an appointment. Said tons were available and they qualified as congregant living apparently and had a letter, etc. No clue but whatever documentation they had it was accepted. Dorms don’t qualify apparently because they don’t have a shared kitchen. I don’t understand the inconsistencies but I’m thrilled. Now it will be interesting to see the reactions she has compared to her identical twin because one had pfizer and the other was vaccinated a month ago in Texas with Moderna.
My husband is 62 and not eligible yet here in IL so hoping he will be in the next group and I will be the one having to go on the search for him since he is seemingly useless with tech. Then it leaves only my 18 year old left.
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That’s great that your kids are vaccinated!! There are a lot more open appointments upstate. SUNY Potsdam is the location that’s always available when I go on the NY State site.
Today, I was able to get appointments for two 60+ ENL immigrants in Suffolk for tomorrow! It was like winning the lottery because Suffolk County has been a vaccine desert. I got lucky with two pop-up clinics held at a hospital and a community center.
I’m starting to believe that we are really going to be able to offer every adult a vaccine by May 
NY gave over a million doses in the past 7 days! (There are 20 million New Yorkers all together.)
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Texas opens to all over 50 on Monday
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@MaDad can you explain? Is vaxfinder starting a waiting list?
I am signed up with a hospital system but no way to know which vaccine.
My brother did nab one of the appointments (for Friday) at United Center before they cut off non-Cook County residents. I gather it’s Pfizer and that they will schedule second doses at the appointment of the first. He’s somewhat tech savvy (not as good as me) but hadn’t been able to get anything anywhere after weeks of trying. He talked frequently to his medical systems (which were Chicagoland, not only Lake County) and they said they just weren’t getting doses. It’s hard to believe they’re doing a good job of over age 65 in Lake County.
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"NY gave over a million doses in the past 7 days! (There are 20 million New Yorkers all together.)" - That is awesome progress! When there was just Pfizer/Moderna, there were 40 million doses need, but now with J&J the target total number should be somewhat lower.
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Someday I’m going to have a BMI of 25 and I will NOT consider myself obese!
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The definition of “overweight” used for that purpose is BMI > 25, while the definition of “obese” used for that purpose is BMI > 30.
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We are in MN. My daughter and I were lucky to be vaccinated early because a pharmacy couldn’t get enough arms from the current tier to show up, so they opened to the next tier for the batch that might expire unused. We were both in the next tier so very excitedly drove down and took the available appointment- which was serendipitously Pfizer, the only one my 17 yo could get. My other daughter is in the next tier, 1b, for PA, but her county is raging about not getting their fair share, so I think it’ll still be awhile for her. My hubs is active duty military, but they’re not getting any special place in line so it’ll be late summer (last tier, anyone who wants one) before he’ll be eligible.
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Lake wasn’t doing a great job thru AllVax. You had to go elsewhere but then spots really started opening up recently at Walgreens in Lake County. In February I was able to get my parents scheduled at Walmart in Lincoln Park and helped some friends and I know a lot of people who got in at Mariano’s and Jewel but you just had to keep trying at random times. I think soon we’re going to open to over 55 so I’ll be back at it for my husband.
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@compmom – Tomorrow, March 11, will be the Hunger Games as the past few weeks have been.
For those who don’t get scheduled tomorrow, on Friday March 12 vaxfinder will change and allow people to pre-register. Then when your turn for a vaccine comes up you will get either a text, phone call, or email. Once notified, you’ll have 24 hrs to respond, or get sent to the back of the line.
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To add a little more about the new MA sign up system - it only covers the mass vaccination sites. Pharmacies, hospital systems, local health departments, etc are not part of the pre registration system. My complaint with it is that it funnels you only to the mass vaccination site nearest to your home. In my case the one that is closest to my home mileage wise is not the easiest one for me to get to. I wish there was someway to specific a preference for a different site but they aren’t planning that yet.
They say you can preregister even if your group is not eligible yet so I plan on signing up. I figure MA will get to 60 year olds with none of the listed comorbidities sometime in May, but it doesn’t hurt to get in line now.
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@me29034 , true, we figure if we cannot get a CVS appointment for my wife, we’ll preregister on the state site, but won’t give up looking for other venues. If you preregister, you are supposed to get a weekly update of where you are in line, and whether you want to stay on the list or not.
We live very close to Gillette, but would rather not go there. It looks like you stand in line, then stand in other lines, only to stand in line yet again. The pictures of people standing in the parking lot waiting to get in are a big turn off. I was in and out of a CVS, first dose, in 20 minutes start to finish.
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@MADad my husband was vaccinated at Gillette last week. There was no line at all. Easy to park, and we walked right in. Up two escalators and straight to a desk where he got the shot. He probably had a shot in his arm 10 minutes after we parked. We could have just lucked out with the timing but there was no waiting at all.
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DH and D2 (asthma) are both getting vaccinated today, in different counties from where we live (in Texas you can get vaccinated anywhere you are willing to travel to).
Once they are vaccinated, that will make everyone in my family taken care of. And I will indulge in a huge sigh of relief.
As mentioned above, all over 50 become eligible next week here.
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