I just heard in the news that our state is able to vaccinate anyone 65+. That sounds like progress!
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Received my first Moderna shot yesterday. No side effects. Arm only sore if I touch the injection point. Process very smooth in my town. Online registration used an existing arena ticketing software ā it was like ordering a concert ticket. In fact, the inoculation facility was an arena. First station was a temp check, then they checked you off against the registration list, then you filled out a medical questionnaire, then you got in line for one of the 20 or so shot stations. There, they gave you a card for your second shot. Finally, you sat for 15 minutes before they released you.
I think this may be the best model for the ālast mileā. The logistics of shipping, storing, administering and tracking are so much simpler than distribution to multiple pharmacies, hospitals, clinics or doctorsā offices. They are inoculating a couple thousand people a day at this facility.
A close friend who is a doctor got his second Pfizer dose and got pretty sick for a day. He was afraid that he had actually come down with the virus and got tested. He was negative and got better in a day, and he said this was pretty common among the medical staff at his hospital.
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You have to keep in mind that our US population is FILLED with people of all ages and circumstances. While an arena situation seems like a great idea for many (and may be) it could be a nightmare or difficulty for older people who have difficulty walking from a large parking lot to the arena and around the arena. Oh, and what about seniors who donāt drive anymore? Donāt have internet to make an appt? Not everyone has someone to drive them or accompany them to an appointment. Rural locations, winter weather - all play a part in making what seems simple and doable to many of us hard or downright impossible.
I received my first vaccine earlier this week. Moderna. Arm soreness for about 24 hours and more tired than usual the evening of the shot but that was it. Well worth it. I work in health care on a hospital campus/medical school.
A co-worker also got her first vaccine. She has some mild to moderate health issues but nothing of note upon looking at her. But itās hard for her to exert herself too much. To get the shot she had to walk through a large parking lot to a hospital entrance (different than the campus we are on for work), elevator up to the floor where the vaccine clinic was and walk to the correct room. She said she could barely talk she was so out of breath (and masked). It was hard for her and there are many in much worse shape.
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My 89 year old mother received her first Pfizer on Monday. Unfortunately, where she went was crowded and unorganized. She was there for 2.5 hours with little social distancing. She was fine Monday and Tuesday, but felt like crap Tuesday night and Wednesday. While I assume it was the vaccine, I really donāt know.
She did not sign up for the V Safe app, which I wanted to talk her through. Does anyone know if you can use one cell phone number for more than one person? I could not find any information online concerning that. I was thinking you could as you enter your name, birthday and vaccine information, but didnāt want to mess up my registration if I did hers on my number. I feel they are missing the elderly population by using an app only, but at least they are getting some feedback. I believe I read only 40% of those that have received the vaccine have registered on V Safe.
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Yes, one size cannot fit all. At the arena, there was an area for people who needed accommodations. Also seniors who cannot get around have a separate number to schedule at home injections. Of course there are problems with getting scheduled as there is a scramble to get a place when the local health authority announces that they are opening registration for the week. But like they say, perfect is the enemy of good, and I think the states that are the furthest behind are the ones who are probably overly micro-managing the process. Hopefully the states can begin to learn from each other as to best practices for given situations. If you look at the CDC statistics on % of shots administered relative to shots distributed, you can see some states are way ahead of others. Also we see these terrible images of long lines of vulnerable people because some states have almost treated this like a free for all.
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I did the V Safe registration via QR code. Does it give you the option to add in another name/person?
When I had my first vaccine 3 weeks ago, we were just given the information to go to V Safe to register, so I donāt know. My aunt and uncle went with my mother, so not sure what she was given.
I guess I could try to add her using my number and see what happens.
I pulled up the QR code again and it looks like it would let me register someone - it doesnāt recognize me as already registered off the bat. Try using the website to see if you can add her name if thatās important to you vsafe.cdc.gov
I went ahead and registered my mother. Wish I had done it before as she did have symptoms; but she is in now. I thought we needed to add the lot number of the vaccine when I registered, but it didnāt ask when I did mom. Do you remember if you had to include the lot number? I just have this vague recollection of having to go downstairs to get my card from my purse, but maybe that was because I wanted to take a picture of it in the event it was misplaced.
Maybe arena style could be improved by having a call center for people who do not have internet and need someone to do it for them by phoneā-teen volunteer opportunity perhaps? Also, maybe having one drive up location where people who have walking difficulties could stay in car.
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I donāt recall if I had to put in the lot #. I did take a pic of my card ājust in caseā.
My mom and dad who are their 80s received their first moderna vaccine yesterday. So far, they only have a sore arm.
Their vaccines were given in a drive up clinic. No need to get out of your car. They had to sit and wait for 30 minutes instead of 15 due to my dadās allergies. Even so, they were out in just under an hour. They have appts already scheduled for their second dose.
They were on the waitlist, received a call Wednesday afternoon that they had appts Thursday afternoon. They live in Tennessee.
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Maybe this situation will end up similar to getting the flu despite having been vaccinated. In many cases, the vaccine at least gives them some protection from serious illness or death even though they are still infected with the virus. Crossing fingers.
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My sister (my nieceās mom) just found out she is positive too. Sheās over 65 and has 2 comorbidities. She has hardly any symptoms, which she attributes to receiving her first shot (Pfizer) 10 days before exposure, and she thinks she had a low viral load exposure. Sheās assuming she got it from her daughter and her family; she saw them at their house the day before they knew they were sick. My sister had stayed 6 feet away (but inside their house) , was masked, and only stayed for a half hour. If that was the exposure, exposure was Friday, with her first mild cough Monday. I bet that vaccine sure did help.
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Being inside probably meant being in stale air full of virus droplets from her daughter and her family. Wearing a mask reduces the virus inhalation a little; if her daughter and her family wore masks, that would have reduced how much virus they filled their house air with.
Having had the first dose of vaccine 10 days prior probably gave her immune system a head start on recognizing the virus and making antibodies, compared to being infected without the vaccine.
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I have had both doses of Pfizer. Sore arm and little tired for 2 days after dose 1. Chilled, headache and body aches next day after dose 2 - but it went away as quickly as it came! SMALL price to pay to get our lives back. Now we just need everyone eligible to vaccinate as quickly as possible!!
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I agree. We all think sheād be in trouble if she had not had the first dose. We see this as a big vaccine success story.
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Hi Oldfort, Can you provide the name of the clinic that your mother got the vaccine? We live in Central New Jersey and Iāve been trying to get an appointment for my husband who is immunocompromised but no luck. Many thanks
This one is not advertised and do not pay attention to the website about it is only for health care. You need to keep on trying because a lot of people do cancel. You can also make multiple appts (if you have one then you can make another new appt as a back up)
https://riteaid.reportsonline.com/rsched/program/HHCC2020a/Patient/Advisory?queueittoken=e_riteaidhhcc2020~q_8e8bf7d6-46c3-4ae2-bff8-d446bf13f1f2~ts_1610821278~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_4487c13150dee08633a6c441982273ca4cf66c701ff41a171a7de530b6997312
Here is the mega site for Edison that just opened up:
If you do get one for your husband, I would suggest for you to go with him because there is a very good chance that you could also get vaccinated at the same time because you live with him.
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we need to vaccinate hundreds of millions. The order in which that gets done should not be as important as speed.
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