Have you gotten a COVID vaccine?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I want to thank y'all for answering the question. I love hearing these different viewpoints

I do think all states at this point should have their own vaccine websites. These should be used to give updates, help out on eligibility, information about where you can get vaccinated (when it becomes available), give people the numbers, etc. Will that help on the non-tech savy people? No but I think it's important to have that transparency.

Don't rely on each person having some sort of "account" with the vaccine provider. Allow people to sign up and then show proof of eligibility upon arrival.

I *think* these might be two different things depending on where you live.

An account is usually a means of tracking either to check your appointment, contact you if needed, etc but I can see how that adds an additional step to an already frustrating situation.

Are you thinking that everyone should just have an account with the state and that's that? Or are you thinking the provider just shouldn't require an account and just let people sign up without one similar to how online shopping has guest checkouts?

As far as eligibility are you meaning that everyone is able to sign up right now even those in general population but just that you have to show proof of eligibility once you get there? TBH because I'm so far down the list I don't even know how and what are they requiring for medical conditions? I mean occupation is probably pretty easy but does anyone know if they are requiring medical proof by means of a medical record for underlying health conditions?

-Rather than social media, rely more heavily on 'traditional' news sources like TV, snail mail, and phone calls to reach the elderly with information.

I think these should have been in addition. Get the word out that's for sure! We should be pushing this information about safety in the vaccine and about eligibility and what to do to get the vaccine and hitting it everywhere. Has anyone seen any billboards in their area? That might be a good thing not necessarily for the elderly but maybe commuters?

Heck you put it on a commercial on the Hallmark channel and I guarantee you my husband's grandmother in STL would be able to see it lol

I also think Medicare should have had a hand in organizing this. They pretty much know where every over 65 person is down to zipcode and could have helped coordinate.

ETA - I forgot to mention that I also think medical insurers should have been called on to help orchestrate this.

Good point on medicare. I wonder the costs associated with this? Really just wondering, have no clue there. My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law are on Medicare though.

Except the initial guidelines were for 75 and over

Good point. I know my state didn't have 75 and up but other places for sure have. Seems like many discussing their situations are usually in the 80+ age range.

Also engage every towns Elder Services/Councils on aging and Meals on Wheels. They know the seniors who live outside of a facility. Case managers and volunteers could assist with explaining the process and scheduling appointments.

Thinking outside the box but a really good idea! I did look into it and this is from their website:

"Meals on Wheels America reveals that programs are now serving an average of 47% more seniors than they were March 1, when concerns over COVID-19 and social distancing measures began taking hold. The pulse survey also found that 97% of local Meals on Wheels programs have seen costs rise, particularly due to the need to acquire safety supplies and deliver more meals to each senior amid uncertainty." They are actually for emergency funds themselves.

I absolutely think this is a way to hook up with these seniors and probably wouldn't require additional trips. You could just do it while you are there delivering the meal. I just don't know how much of an impact it would have on the service itself. They have so much demand now do they have the ability to spend that extra time getting these appointments made and explaining the process and getting that information back in a timely manner to the vaccine site or provider? I don't think though those who do Meals on Wheels would have a problem with adding that additional responsibility; generally speaking they are doing it out of compassion in the first place and to help.

Hmmm...but really maybe people from the communities can inquire on this to see if there is capacity and funds because truly it's a way to accommodate seniors who live on their own and don't necessarily have an adult child who can constantly be booking/looking/securing/keeping up on vaccines like it's some Disney trip lol (I say that because so many people have been drawling parallels to Disney's planning).

 

[KPeterso]

Totally agree. My county in Michigan is only doing appts through the hospital websites. My mom had to create an account for my 88 year old grandpa and now we are stalking the website for an opening. There is a 0% chance my grandpa could have done any of that on his own. There has to be a better way!

I agree. Same issues in CA (Orange County) where I am. Need to register on the website and make appointments on the app (or at least it is easier that way). Need different email addresses for each person, so since my parents share an email address, I had to use one of my email addresses for the other one. I got most of my information from others on Facebook and used a lot of persistence to get their appointments. There is no way the average senior is going to figure it all out. The majority of seniors in the line when we got the vaccine (for my parents who are in their 80s) were also people who had a much younger family member help them out or do it all for them. Just crazy.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Yay! I qualify!!! PA just expanded group 1a and I qualify now because I am immune-compromised. Never thought I'd be so excited to have an autoimmune disease! I was supposed to be group 1b but they moved up the people over 65 and people with preexisting conditions so YAY! I just requested an appointment for myself, my mother, and my grandmother.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I also think medical insurers should have been called on to help orchestrate this.

I don't know that they'd be any better. We belong to Kaiser. CA just added over 65 to their 1a tier a few days ago. All we got was - nothing from Kaiser.

Going on their website, they say "we're still vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents only. DON'T CALL OR EMAIL YOUR DOCTOR. We'll be sending notifications when we want to you to come in. Be aware there isn't enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone who falls within the parameters. Please be patient."

 

[JPPT1974]

No waiting for the elderly like my mom and dad to get it. Along with those with underlying conditions. And those in the essential workers.

 

[MMSM]

I am a teacher (NY) and just got vaccinated today. I spent hours the other day on the system and was fortunate to get my in laws who are 73 and with Parkinson’s and 68 breast cancer survivor. The 65 and older population was so needed but it made getting them an appt hard. They were told their primary would contact them or soon they would be able to go to a Walgreens etc. I am glad that I did not wait. I will say as much as the actual appointment scheduling was hell; the actual vaccination site was very well organized and run.

 

[focusondisney]

Again I am not sure of the best system but the current one is not going well but it is like the Wild West out there.

Absolutely!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I was able to see on a news story 6 mass vaccination sites available in my metro on my side of the state line whenever supply is ample enough. 4 are technically in the county above me but 1 of those is one of the main hospital systems, 2 will be in my county one being at 1 of the hospital systems. That was exciting to learn..but I'm pretty sure we're a long ways off from mass vaccination (maybe I'll be wrong and get pleasantly suprised)

One of the main hospitals (mentioned as a mass vaccination site) had 65,000 patients that are aged 65 and up. The news said they are working at notifying those patients (this goes back to communicating with those who may be eligible). That is just one hospital system.

Our state health director says they are anticipating later this week being able to know exactly when we can move on to Phase 2 (right now it's a vague early part of Feb.) The state health director said "a number of counties across the state helped neighboring counties and are already vaccinating people in Phase 2" “You know, the counties have been really good,” “Some use their excess vaccine and pushed it to other counties that were having more struggles in Phase 1. But I think we’re getting very close.”

I mentioned on another thread that I knew of at least one county that had excess doses and they called the state to ask what they should do with it and the state had said they were fine with them moving on. The state health director vocalized he was fine with it so long as they checked around other counties to see if they had any need. That county then vaccinated 100 teachers (which are in Phase 2) in prep for return to school. ETA: And my county has gotten doses from a healthcare system located in the county above me to help with Phase 1.

Because Phase 2 is so large I'm not sure how much extra will be available to help surrounding counties but if they can do that I'm all for that.

Now I would just love it if we could get more than just 2 vaccines out there!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Um...checking in from CA. I can't get my 75 DM a vaccine appointment as you might recall from earlier in the thread. Just want to say I'm OK with that. CA is holding back a lot of vaccine so they can follow their "Equity" protocol. That's not right. The 65+ crowd is who is ending up in the overloaded hospitals. Keep them healthy and the hospitals will finally get a break. Or you could hold back the vaccine until absolutely everyone working in health care gets it while the patients keep flooding in. Just look a the headlines - pretty easy to see what is really working.

I wholeheartedly agree that the elderly should be a priority. If I were making the rules, the elderly would have been prioritized ahead of many people who have already been vaccinated. My family would be no exception. I was talking about people who had chosen to stay at their primary homes, because it was safer than Florida. Then they found out they could get the vaccine here faster than their home country & started showing up here to be vaccinated. All of those people will be in line ahead of the general population some of whom are only one year (or even a few days) younger than them. They're also competing with full time Florida residents that are 65+ for the limited supply. Those full time residents don't have another country to go to that is safer. My thoughts on the medical tourists being allowed to come here for the vaccine probably shouldn't be posted on this site. I don't see how anyone could justify that. FWIW, neither the snowbirds from other countries nor the medical tourists pay US Federal taxes.

 

[tippity]

Had my 2nd Pfizer vaccine yesterday AM. No symptoms.

 

[MMSM]

Had my 2nd Pfizer vaccine yesterday AM. No symptoms.

That makes me feel good. I am nervous for my second shot. Many people are I have spoken with and things I’ve read said to expect a rough go with the second Pfizer shot. This makes me feel hopeful.

 

[jo-jo]

Yay! I qualify!!! PA just expanded group 1a and I qualify now because I am immune-compromised. Never thought I'd be so excited to have an autoimmune disease! I was supposed to be group 1b but they moved up the people over 65 and people with preexisting conditions so YAY! I just requested an appointment for myself, my mother, and my grandmother.

I'm also in PA. Did you fill out a form , name, address and birthday, send it out and now you wait???? That's what we did with a return response of ......we'll check your info and get to you, might be a month or longer..... We sent that in on Saturday. I'm 65, DH is 75.

I hear people in other areas looking for appointments (sounds like hunting for an ADR) . I'm concerned I'm missing some step.

 

[tippity]

That makes me feel good. I am nervous for my second shot. Many people are I have spoken with and things I’ve read said to expect a rough go with the second Pfizer shot. This makes me feel hopeful.

The first PFizer caused some arm pain, not bad. Scale of 0-10 it was a 3, day after vaccine. but I did my usual morning exercise: water rowing and the pain vanished!

This time I started boat rowing arm movements right after the vaccine and today there's injection site pain.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My coworker had her second Pfizer shot two days ago. She called out sick yesterday due to body aches, headache and chills. She’s back today but said she still feels sluggish.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

To add to my post above. She said once the chills subsided she got congested. Lots of blowing her nose and clearing her throat.

 

[mom2rtk]

My coworker had her second Pfizer shot two days ago. She called out sick yesterday due to body aches, headache and chills. She’s back today but said she still feels sluggish.

To add to my post above. She said once the chills subsided she got congested. Lots of blowing her nose and clearing her throat.

Sign me up please.

 

[TLSnell1981]

My coworker had her second Pfizer shot two days ago. She called out sick yesterday due to body aches, headache and chills. She’s back today but said she still feels sluggish.

An acquaintance recently had her second one. She had head and body aches for about twenty four hours. Also said she just felt "strange" for about three days. I haven't heard the last complaint before.

We've had three more fam finish their series and no problems whatsoever. They were all vaccinated with Pfizer.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To add to my post above. She said once the chills subsided she got congested. Lots of blowing her nose and clearing her throat.

I feel l like this is a regular day to me during allergy season lol. Having the chills though I could deal with it but it wouldn't be comfortable at all.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

An acquaintance recently had her second one. She had head and body aches for about twenty four hours. Also said she just felt "strange" for about three days. I haven't heard the last complaint before.

We've had three more fam finish their series and no problems whatsoever. They were all vaccinated with Pfizer.

My department is small and out of the ten or so people that got their second shot she is probably the worse. Everyone else said they barely had any symptoms.

 

[NannyBeBe]

My husband's doctor called yesterday to make an appointment for him to get the vaccine due to his health issues. He asked them to also sign me up as I am a cancer survivor and have asthma. We have appointments for February 16. They are using the Moderna vaccine. I would suggest that anyone who has health issues, regardless of their age, call their doctor and ask for an appointment.