Helping my Ss & D find vaccine locations (usually pharmacies) where extra doses are available at the end of the day. I hate that the system is working this way but I’d rather those doses go into their arms than the garbage. They are the only ones left to be vaccinated in our immediate family. If I knew with certainty that NYS would open to the general adult population on a specific date I’d be less inclined to do this.
I have an appointment next week but I really want J and J due to sensitivity to PEG in the other two, and also the timetable of the shot during this time when my mother is on hospice and I want to be with her safely.
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It’s not about which groups are the most “deserving” – the priority is determined by broader societal need. Given limited vaccine supplies, what is the most efficient and most effective way to reduce the numbers of deaths and hospitalizations; what is necessary to keep essential services, particularly health care, operational; what is the most efficient and most effective way to allow return to normal operations of schools and businesses; and what is the most effective way to reduce the overall spread of the virus.
I personally don’t “deserve” any consideration at all, given that I’ve been mostly sitting on my butt & working from home for a year – but I was in the “1B” priority group in my area, right behind health care workers & long term care residents, because if I had contracted Covid, at age 67 I am much more likely to create a burden on the healthcare system than my 30-something kids. The math in my region was that 85% of all Covid deaths were among the 65+ age cohort, and most deaths also represent a drag on the health care system overall. (Some die alone, but may more take up space in hospital ICU’s, sometimes for many weeks).
My doctor DIL got her vaccine early on (first wave) not as a reward for all her time spent working in ED’s since the start of the pandemic – but rather to make sure she can stay on the job going forward. The health care system can’t afford to have critical staff sidelined or quarantined-- so health care workers were prioritized.
Teachers aren’t getting prioritized because they are deserving, but simply because many are uncomfortable or unwilling to return to in-person teaching with the pandemic, and as a society we want to reopen schools. So it really doesn’t matter there what the head count of vaccinated staff is – the point is to eliminate the very legitimate concern many teachers have that would otherwise prevent them from coming to work.
And it is not a have vs. have-not situation, as if some people will get the vaccine and others will be forever denied. It is just a matter of weeks or months. Every one of us who already has been vaccinated is now out of the way. We aren’t taking up space in hospitals and we aren’t competing any longer for open vaccine slots. And the vaccines are coming as fast as they can make them.
So yes, I definitely agree that all members of the military are as or more deserving than anyone. But that’s not the way the vaccines are allocated.
I don’t know, but I assume that the DOD is receiving it’s own allocation and making its own determination as to how to best distribute the vaccine among its active personnel – knowing full well that within the next 2 or 3 months they are going to be able to complete the task of vaccinating everyone.
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Since you decide to respond to me, I’ll try and answer.
I think that the defense of our country is pretty important. And vaccinating our troops is beneficial to the health of our democracy. People can disagree. But I found out that not all of the active duty military is eligible right now for vaccines.
As far as the VA, they have their own supply of vaccines. But it was decided that only those already in their system can receive the vaccines. I just think that all veterans are worthy of being vaccinated by a supply that was allocated to the veterans administration. That’s all, it doesn’t have to do with anything else. The VA says they have enough vaccine to administer to all veterans in their system, but not all veterans can be served by the VA. Because they make too much money. It would be nice for people who were willing to die protecting our county have a dedicated place to receive their vaccines. By a system that is set up for it. Because they are already vaccinating lots of people.
I really don’t understand why what I said is all that controversial. We’ve already far and above have vaccinated the most vulnerable. Our death rates are going down. Now we are cherry picking who’s next.
I’m really tired of defending my opinion. I had one. I decided to send emails to my congresspeople. It won’t change one thing, I suspect.
But I support our military. I’m ok with that.
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I don’t care who gets vaccinated first or last, as long as we can vaccinate as many people as possbile and as quickly as possible to stay ahead of virus mutations. The vaccine supply will exceed the demand in a few short weeks anyway.
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Oh happy days! WA expands eligibility starting March 31. Finally. I just checked the vaccine finder site: tons of appointment available for next week. Seriously?! We have to beg people to come to get vaccinated?! Finally, the Governor got it: make more people eligible to speed up the process of getting us to some sort of herd immunity.
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Did people get to see this video? It’s a group of 7 doctors from northern CA doing their version of “I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot” (from Hamilton). H just shared it with med school lad and me. I like it!
https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article249981859.html
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I got an email from NYS to participate in their digital proof of covid vaccination. It has to be one of the worst piece of software. It took few days (really) to get it to work, but now I have a digital proof. I think they are going to roll it out to the general public soon. I guess in the future I could show it to verify I had a vaccine.
My kids are all vaccinated at this point. They really didn’t have a hard time to get an appt. NYC has a lot of mega sites now. One got Pfizer and another J&J.
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Your email worked! 
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I called the state hotline and the CVS locally that was doing vaccines. No way to find J and J. CVS had some and ran a clinic but supply is gone. State hotline didn’t have an answer. I am going to take my chances with whatever I am offered Monday despite sensitivities.
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Yay, Maine has accelerated its vaccination schedule. I will be eligible next Tuesday, March 23, instead of April 1 as previously announced. And ALL people over the age of 16 will be eligible on April 19! That will include my 22-year-old daughter.
There appear to be plenty of appointments available, but the system is not letting me sign up yet. Patience…
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This happened near me a couple of days ago, and I was glad to see it:
Schools are open but only part time for most students. I hope they can finish out the year full time.
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Posting this only to potentially help others who may be in Ohio.
March 29 vaccines open up for 16 and up. My 32 year old daughter and her boyfriend were able to schedule an appt today for March 29. She is in shock that this is (crossing fingers) coming true already. No special health conditions and the system took their birthdates.
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That’s great they could sign up now. I’m eligible March 23, but because I’m not in the group that’s eligible NOW, I can’t get an appointment yet. Frustrating.
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Ditto here. I am looking for a spot for my Mr. who will be eligible by March 31, but the sign up sites do not have a box to check for his age group yet. Plenty of appointments available though. Frustrating!!
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I just got my J&J vaccine today. I kept searching the online sites I knew but nothing came up. I highly suggest doing a search for your state on Facebook with the title of “vaccine finders” or “vaccine hunters”. I found one for my state which is how I was able to know where to get an appointment.
Vaccine supplies are distributed in so many random ways. We have mass sites, firestation sites, hospital systems, county systems, small independent pharmacies, major retailers, etc. Turns out the rural areas in my state have a lot of people who don’t want the vaccine so the supply there goes to waste. We now have a lot of people driving from the main metro area to these small towns.
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For those searching, keep checking the websites. My experience was that the pharmacy website updated around noon on the Saturday before a new group opened up. I found that there were a lot of appointments that were not being filled from the last available group, so when the website updated to include a new group, appointments were plenty.
It’s not foolproof by any means, but by Monday, the day the new group opened, all of the appointments had been snagged.
and 
for all who are searching!
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Agree with frequently checking the pharmacy websites, and your local Facebook vaccine hunter groups. My age group became eligible yesterday but since I wasn’t able to get to my computer until later in the morning, there were no appointments left. I had multiple tabs open on my laptop - our local FB group, CVS, Walgreens, VAMS and a few of the hospital sites and kept refreshing on and off. It took a few hours but I was finally able to grab an appointment that popped up at CVS for early next week just a few towns away.
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Just click on the current eligible age. By the time he goes for his appt he will be eligible.
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