@abasket, the funny thing about hearing this about OH is that my family, who lives closest to and only 20 mins away from my parents here in MD, will be the last of our family members able to actually safely visit with them. Niece in PA already vaccinated and now my sister’s family in OH will all be vaccinated before mine. Here in MD, my family is all in Phase 3, with no plans open up/change the phasing. We only just started vaccinating 65+ here a week or so ago. My whole family, college kids and all, will be able to gather without us! 
1 Like
But when CT goes to free-for-all on April 5, will everyone be able to make a convenient appointment in the near future, or will it be a highly competitive hunger game to get appointments in the first 5 seconds after they open up on the web site?
Here in GA, the metro Atlanta area its hard to get vaccines, but in Rural Georgia they cannot seem to find arms to put them in.
In my opinion…CT is doing a great vaccine rollout job. We have a good number of mega sites where thousands of vaccines are being given each day. We have health district sites, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart on board. And looking to expand to other places as well.
Will people be able to get a “convenient” time? That all depends on what you call convenient. One friend was looking for only one day a week and only one window of time. I think folks need to be a little more flexible than that.
I honestly don’t know one person who hasn’t been able to schedule a shot…and yes, I know I’m a sample of one. But I know a lot of people…and they have had success scheduling their vaccines.
Also, by April, all school personnel will be vaccinated. If the clinics set up for them on weekends continue, that will open up a number of other sites.
5 Likes
I have seen the vaccine refusal argument trotted out here regularly, but that isn’t all the difference Vaccines are distributed by state population figures. NYS and Texas have both given out the same proportion of the shots they have received in the state, but to different populations because they had different priorities. In some places healthy 40 year old qualify. In others it was smokers, or migrant farm workers.
Yes they are. But you don’t get your next shipment unless you free up storage space by administering x% of the previous one. So it is not just the population numbers, rates of administration matter.
4 Likes
My kids are in PA. I didn’t think that PA was opening up to many groups unless you are a teacher, older or a health professional.
Maybe I’m wrong. Does anyone know how the vaccine rollout is going?
I’d like to visit my kids sooner rather than later.
My kids are in both in PA and they are not eligible yet. My daughter’s boyfriend has an older relative who is undergoing cancer treatment and he even had trouble getting an appointment. From what my daughter says PA rollout is not going smoothly.
1 Like
@deb922 I didn’t mean to suggest that PA rollout was going well. I don’t know much about it. I just know that my niece who lives there is vaccinated. I was commenting more on the fact that with OH opening up to all age groups shortly, that would mean my parents who live near me and my extended family (siblings, nieces/nephews in other states) would be able to get together with my parents which is kinda ironic since my family (me, dh, our kids) actually lives nearby/closest to my parents.
I get it. It’s hard, vaccine envy!
I was hoping that PA was going better than I thought because I’d like to get together with my kids.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Shouting from the rooftops! How I wish there was a rollout that was uniform between all the states. Because one state‘s rollout is opening up and another is still in a much earlier phase. The perception is that’s it’s unfair.
But just because a state has opened up, doesn’t mean that there are more vaccines. Or more availability. It just means that more people are fighting for the same piece of pie.
Although I think this will be a very different conversation in less than a month. As vaccines become much more available.
4 Likes
Hourly workers who have less discretion about when they can take time off may be at a disadvantage in getting vaccine appointments for this reason. Granted, not the main forum demographic.
5 Likes
@ucbalumnus some of our sites are open 24/7 and some are open seven days a week…long hours. There are plenty of options on different days of the week and at a lot of different times.
People just need to be flexible. My one friend wanted only an 8 am appointment on one of her workdays at a location closeby…so she could go just before work. That is NOT being flexible. She realized that…and made her appointment in the evening at a site a little further way.
1 Like
@deb922 Oh yes, the vaccine envy is real! Judging by social media, it seems like 95% of people I know or see posting in places like CC have already gotten vaccinated, and not just them, but their kids as well! Meanwhile, where I live, I don’t know anyone my age (50s) other than teachers who are vaccinated. Yet, in a FB group I’m in where everyone is mostly in their 40s-50s, nearly everyone has been vaccinated already. Not polite to ask how they are eligible, but I have to assume that it is medical - obesity? asthma? etc b/c I know they don’t qualify based on their professions.
I’m happy to see all these people getting vaccinated, but it’s also a wee bit annoying to see all these people posting pictures of themselves visiting family, planning trips in April, eating out, etc. That is still a long way off for my family! My only consolation to having to wait is that hopefully by the time we are eligible the vaccine will be so readily available that we won’t have to play the cat and mouse game of trying to get an appointment!
3 Likes
The people I see posting on social media getting vaccinated all are in known priority groups eligible for vaccine at the time (age or occupation based).
From what I see on social media, such postings are not restricted to people who have gotten vaccinated already.
2 Likes
Here’s PA’s eligibility list, though I’m not sure it’s updated because teachers/educators/staff of schools are also allowed now even though we’re still in 1a:
• Long-term care facility residents
Health care personnel including, but not limited to:
• Emergency medical service personnel
• Nurses
• Nursing assistants
• Physicians
• Dentists
• Dental hygienists
• Chiropractors
• Therapists
• Phlebotomists
• Pharmacists
• Technicians
• Pharmacy technicians
• Health professions students and trainees
• Direct support professionals
• Clinical personnel in school settings or correctional facilities
• Contractual HCP not directly employed by the health care facility
• Persons not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious material that can transmit disease among or from health care personnel and patients
• Persons ages 65 and older
• Persons aged 16-64 with high risk conditions causing increased risk for severe disease:
• Cancer
• Chronic kidney disease
• COPD
• Down Syndrome
• Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
• Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant or from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune weakening medicines
• Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m2 or higher but < 40 kg/m2)
• Severe Obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2)
• Pregnancy
• Sickle cell disease
• Smoking
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/Distribution.aspx
Here’s PA’s data in general and one can get more vaccine distribution data by scrolling down to the vaccine dashboard.
https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Cases.aspx
1 Like
more likely that the Valley has many more non-English speakers and who lack pc’s to schedule appointments. And even those that have access to pc’s, they likely have onsite day jobs, so they can’t refresh every 15 minutes.
1 Like
The state of Washington is certainly moving carefully with clearly defined groups. At this rate, it will probably be well into May before my 33 year old healthy WFH son qualifies. But he’s patient; it’s me who can’t wait until he’s fully vaccinated so we can finally plan a visit.
Yes, the state of Washington is going sloooow!
That’s what makes this SO HARD! We all want ourselves and our loved ones vaccinated. It is very hard to hear other states leaping ahead while for others, it feels like the finish line is very far away.
So while we can rejoice about our states rollouts, I hope we can give some grace for our friends who are waiting (un)patiently.
9 Likes
NJ will expand eligibility for a whole host of occupations, including hospitality workers on 3/29. I just scheduled my D20 (seasonal food service worker) for her first shot on 3/29. Honestly, it feels like by the time they open it up to “everyone” on 5/1 (assuming they adhere to the Biden mandate)…there will be almost no one left to make eligible.
@ucbalumnus Yes, I’ve seen plenty of postings in the last year of people disregarding all the mandates for travel and gatherings. I’m not referring to those, which fortunately are not people I normally associate with or follow on Facebook. I was talking about people who have been careful for the last year, have not visited family, flown somewhere on vacation, etc. Like my family, they haven’t been doing these things and now that they are vaccinated, they are understandably excited and sharing photos, etc. I don’t begrudge them, just envious that since my husband and I are healthy (maybe, haven’t been to doctor in a while) 50ish people, we can’t join in. As I said to a friend, it’s like being the only one of your friends not invited to the party but you get to listen to them all talk in front of you about it. Fortunately, I’m not 13 anymore and can handle it! 
7 Likes