@jpga13 Love the bunny!
@sdl0625 Does it surprise you that Georgia would be last; we are usually last in anything that matters!
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I saw an interesting chart on the percentage of people vaccinated in each state. Texas, which has been open to all for several weeks, is in the lowest group, under 15%. New Mexico, which made it a priority to vaccinate and has a big volunteer network, is the highest at 25%. Most states were in the 15-19% group, including my state of Colorado. One county (small and very rural) in Colorado was super organized with volunteers and was allotted 10% of the first batch (4000 of the 40k).
We are opening our mass clinic to anyone here next week. They are struggling to fill slots. Originally set up for 3000/day, they had half that when accepting walk-ins (mostly college students) who flooded in from around the state. The day after they stopped that, they only had 50 slots taken. Last week, they averaged 185/day. Only 17% of our health district has registered for the vaccine, but that doesnāt count health workers, other people who got it from their employers or cvs. But in any case, herd immunity isnāt looking good here. I am glad my family is covered.
Itās already startingā¦not surprised just disappointed.
Thereās always someone looking to make a buck.
I wonder who the buyers areā¦ people of āwhateverā faith who consider it a sin not to lie? Or just ārun of the millā people whoād rather support criminals with their money?
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Kind of ironic that people would turn down the free vaccines but pay $200 for a fake vaccine card. I could see it more in countries where the rollouts arenāt going very well.
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Today I got my second Pfizer in CVS. This time they did not allow waiting the 15 minutes in the car - it had to be in store. My guess is theyāre worried about liability if something were to go wrong. This time they also gave me a 20% coupon for anything regularly priced in the store. Everyone there for a Covid vaccine got one. Last time they didnāt hand those out, so it might be new. Regardless I wanted to show my appreciation for their having the vaccination opportunity so I bought $20 worth of stuff - mostly food items we can snack on - and one bottle of Coke (yes, as a statement for that purchase).
I told H to be considering what he wants to buy too. I donāt care if they have a coupon or not when he goes. He can buy something to support them.
The kids will be going to a CVS too now that I think about it, albeit theirs will be an hour and a half away vs 20 minutes. Stillā¦ theyāre bound to want something to snack on.
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Itās their way to travel (or whatever) and still be āfreeā I guess.
If itās āThe Mark of the Beastā as one congressperson claimed a vaccine passport would be, Iād wonder why they want it even if itās fake - but perhaps those folks donāt? Iāll have to listen around a bit and see who gives what reasons - or if the non-vaccine folks diss them for the scam they are.
It will be an uphill battle to get many vaccinated in Texas- a large undocumented group plus hesitancy over interaction with the government. The counties are trying to waive all identification requirements and avoid having police or national guard at some sites, but I can understand why many fear to go. They still need to give some name to enter into a government database for record keeping.
Feeling like a lottery winner after scoring an appointment for my 16yo today. Colorado opened eligibility to everyone yesterday and I spent a good part of the day trying to find him an appointment. Somehow, I broke through the logjam this morning and heāll get his first jab this Monday. Heās never been so excited to get a shot!
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I feel that to try and get undocumented residents, the powers to be will have to use a tactic that is being used on the homeless population. Go to where they are, no appointments and the one shot vaccine. It will take more effort but I hope that in a community thatās been hard hit, that there will be people who want the vaccine.
Right now there are just too many who want a vaccine, are willing to make an appointment and search for one. As we are vaccinating up to 4 million people a day right now, the outreach will change. And it may be sooner rather than later.
I received my vaccine at a drugstore. Also bought snacks. No coupon though. Nothing better than drugstore or gas station snacks!
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Press releases say age 16+ are āeligibleā in PA starting 4\19. Our local hospital system seemed to interpret this as they can sign up starting on that date. I went ahead and made an appointment for April 20 under the existing list of eligibility. My older D said they checked nothing but name when she got hers - assuming theyāre not going to retroactively check sign-up eligibility after the vaccination eligibility date.
That would complete our family by ~ May 15.
PA has lagged, but is improving. Over 110,000 teachers, school bus drivers, etc. were vaccinated in a three week blitz, getting vaccines to everyone who wanted one. So a āwell doneā to the administration.
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On the equity and inclusion front ā I live in a very economically and somewhat racially diverse zip code. Yesterday we drove by a K-Mart a mile from our home that closed several years ago and has sat empty. The parking lot was full of pop-up shelters and looked like a drive-through vaccine site! I hadnāt heard about it. No one on our street had heard about it. Not listed on any government sites. Turns out itās a no-appointment site geared toward the homeless community. This was discovered by some neighbors who walked over to ask about it and were told they had plenty of vaccines, so they got one! I also know of āno-IDā sites aimed at the undocumented farmworker population and specific vaccine helper organizations that make appointments only for the Latino community. Which is all good. I can go online and refresh pharmacy sites. I can drive to sites not on public transit. I have tons of opportunity and privilege. It was just weird to see this major operation in our neighborhood that had no public notice that I could find. So, at least where I am, there is a lot of energy going to reaching underserved populations.
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Because of the continuing shortage, if they did give public notice, they would have been rushed with everyone else besides their target population.
Remember when the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium ran a no appointment vaccination site in Philadelphia and people were queuing for it in cold weather? Seems like that was effective in getting vaccines to the target population ā low SES people who may not have had good computers or internet or even money to afford heating their homes went there, while high SES people who could afford to heat their homes did not.
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If the target population is homeless people, the āpublicā notice is done in a different way. Volunteers walking through areas and telling them, or even handing out cards. Signs or announcements at homeless shelters or food banksā¦ An offer of free food, like wrapped sandwiches, nearby might be a good enticement. Word might spread pretty quickly in some neighborhoods.
I have no clue what they are actually doing, but I can think of many forms of outreach that would be effective for one target population, and effectively invisible to others.
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Of course, I get that. Itās just odd when itās right down the street from your house. And it seems like you are saying that they canāt restrict who can have one if other than the target group knows about it so they have to try to keep information from the general public? That may well be true. But if I were told āwe are running this clinic to try to reach the homeless population or farmworkers, etc.ā, I wouldnāt try to go there. I do wonder whatās going on when I see a setup in my neighborhood that has no public signage or information.
It is very possible that this was publicized well in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and food banks in the area. Or with town social services folks who reach out to the target population.
Regardlessā¦itās wonderful that they had this vaccine site.
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But interestingly the social service information number 211 knew nothing about it.
That would not be too different from what many other organizations and businesses do. For specific target populations, they may engage in marketing where those target populations are likely to see it, but the general public does not, especially if there is a significant level of negative sentiment toward the target populations among the general public.