CDC Notifies States, Large Cities To Prepare For Vaccine Distribution As Soon As Late October

[anniemae]

Really? That would be spectacular if it was true. My best friend's partner works in vaccine distribution for my state - I'm in group 1c, and right now I'm expected not to have a chance at vaccination until June. I'm having a hard time with 5.5 more months of quarantine on the horizon, so earlier would be great.

This is how I feel. Probably will be summer before we are eligible, some are saying the fall but I can't let my mind go there. We want to go on vacation but will not travel without being vaccinated. I don't want another summer like the last one. I am ready to jump back into life, but won't until we are vaccinated. It is so frustrating. It's like you see the finish line but it keeps moving further away.

 

[Joe in VA]

Everyone will have a chance to be vaccinated by May, imho. I think that's not even optimistic, just realistic, good chance of before that for anyone who wants it. The JNJ single shot will be the gamechanger.

 

[Colleen27]

Wow - half? That seems...optimistic? For reference, we are at 5% in CA right now (full vaccinations) and distribution has been...ummm...uninspiring? Sorry, trying really hard to keep things positive. Maybe I'll just sit back and read your guys' posts for a while. Agree with wenrob - could use all the good news we can get and you guys are delivering.

The full vaccination numbers are going to be less inspiring, though, because of the relatively long wait between doses. Nationally, we're at about 10% now having received first doses, with over a million more being added per weekday (slightly less on weekends, though the dip is starting to level out... maybe because of retail pharmacy-based distribution, since unlike health departments and medical offices, they are a 7-day-a-week operation?). That's really not bad, and should continue to pick up steam as more candidates are approved.

One thing that is pretty big in my area is working vs living. People are potentially eligible in multiple counties and across state lines based on multiple factors including where you work, where you live, where you are a patient of at a hospital, etc. It can make things more complicated just given the amount of doses available. Right now it does seem like my county has really started going but the other side of the state line is stalling out a little. They are considering that side (and the other large metro in that state) 'vaccine deserts' that are quickly expanding meaning no vaccines to be had. The county on the other side of the state line has over 700K people that live there but as I said people work and live all over. That county has been denied vaccine doses for 2 weeks in a row by the state. As for why that's anyone's guess..

That's starting to emerge as a factor around me too. My county still doesn't have even half the doses needed to get a first dose to our over-65 population... but some of those in that population are starting to be offered it in neighboring counties with higher supply via their existing relationships with doctors/medical groups. Teachers aren't being prioritized yet in my county but some have gotten their first shot at union or Archdiocesan (for Catholic schools) clinics that are regional in nature. It looks like DH may end up being the first of my household to get it, even though we're all in the same priority group as healthy and under 65, because the union in his plant is trying to arrange a vaccination event in March... well before the county's projected availability of August for our group.

But at least we do know something of the "why" of it here - the state's choice to go with a public-private partnership for distribution hurt counties that rely primarily on medical services in neighboring counties. Hospital groups got the lion's share of the initial doses while only a much smaller percentage went to health departments. Since the health department is the only one giving the vaccine in my county, that means we just didn't get as many early doses as neighboring counties that are home to major health systems' headquarters (rather than just the urgent care outposts and private practice offices we have locally). Hopefully expanding into retail pharmacies will help balance things out a little better because if there's one thing we have plenty of with our aging population, it is drugstores!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Everyone will have a chance to be vaccinated by May, imho. I think that's not even optimistic, just realistic, good chance of before that for anyone who wants it. The JNJ single shot will be the gamechanger.

It will sure help with some groups easing the pressure off the 2 dose vaccines. I don't really care if I need to get 2 doses, I did Gardasil which was 3 doses at that time but having a 1 and done is also attractive feature of it.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Wow - half? That seems...optimistic? For reference, we are at 5% in CA right now (full vaccinations) and distribution has been...ummm...uninspiring? Sorry, trying really hard to keep things positive. Maybe I'll just sit back and read your guys' posts for a while. Agree with wenrob - could use all the good news we can get and you guys are delivering.

That's what he said. I guess supply is really going to ramp up. At that point I really think they need to get the supply to pharmacies and open it up to everyone.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The full vaccination numbers are going to be less inspiring, though, because of the relatively long wait between doses. Nationally, we're at about 10% now having received first doses, with over a million more being added per weekday (slightly less on weekends, though the dip is starting to level out... maybe because of retail pharmacy-based distribution, since unlike health departments and medical offices, they are a 7-day-a-week operation?). That's really not bad, and should continue to pick up steam as more candidates are approved.



That's starting to emerge as a factor around me too. My county still doesn't have even half the doses needed to get a first dose to our over-65 population... but some of those in that population are starting to be offered it in neighboring counties with higher supply via their existing relationships with doctors/medical groups. Teachers aren't being prioritized yet in my county but some have gotten their first shot at union or Archdiocesan (for Catholic schools) clinics that are regional in nature. It looks like DH may end up being the first of my household to get it, even though we're all in the same priority group as healthy and under 65, because the union in his plant is trying to arrange a vaccination event in March... well before the county's projected availability of August for our group.

But at least we do know something of the "why" of it here - the state's choice to go with a public-private partnership for distribution hurt counties that rely primarily on medical services in neighboring counties. Hospital groups got the lion's share of the initial doses while only a much smaller percentage went to health departments. Since the health department is the only one giving the vaccine in my county, that means we just didn't get as many early doses as neighboring counties that are home to major health systems' headquarters (rather than just the urgent care outposts and private practice offices we have locally). Hopefully expanding into retail pharmacies will help balance things out a little better because if there's one thing we have plenty of with our aging population, it is drugstores!

I think part of the reason is the same issue for my state, relying on getting vaccine access to largely the rural parts even though the haven't said that. The controversy for the other side of the state line lies in the mass vaccination sites being just out of reach for our metro. Where they are positioned at don't reach that side really. My county, which I mentioned on another thread I stand corrected has been calling their larger vaccination efforts mass vaccination clinics, has had multiple ones. They just did one over the weekend on Saturday at a church for 2,000 65+ people and the week prior one for 1,700+ for 80+ (and leftover health care workers) at a parks and rec gym. Have people had to travel far in your area to get it? Like you mentioned regional in nature for the clinics.

As for the pharmacies...*sigh* that's another issue. A news story came out saying not all pharmacies in our metro on both sides would be participating. Walmart and Sam's Club while they will be eventually in both states none will be done at this time. Kroger will be but primarily in my area that's Dillions except a deal made years ago closed all the Dillions locations in my metro down. The ones that stayed open are located in the college town where my alma mater is which to be fair isn't too far, about 25-30miles from me. Two of the Dillions in that city will have Moderna in a couple of day though limited in amount. And the list goes on. CVS announced none of the locations in my state and the state next to me will be a part of the initial 300 stores they will distribute the vaccine to. There are a few Health Mart pharmacy locations in my area but they said "depending on vaccine availability, that information will change daily." so that's not encouraging. Hy-Vee which is a regional grocer won't have any vaccines going to both of our states and instead will be going to Iowa and North Dakota, at least the vaccines sent out today. Another network called CPESN advised 100 of its 300 locations spread out amongst a few states including mine would get it but "Unfortunately, each of these pharmacies will be receiving a very small quantity of the vaccine over the first couple weeks," the statement said. "They have already identified (or shortly will be identifying) patients within their community that need the vaccine. CPESN USA sites do not expect to receive enough vaccines "to accommodate all of the requests," so I'm really not sure who that will entail in my metro though we do at least have some who knows if they'll be ones chosen to get vaccine. There's a couple more.

Basically expansion to pharmacies won't really be helping us here in my metro at least not as much as I had hoped unless more details come out. I'm really intrigued how Walmart will work out because there's a ton of locations in my metro. I was really hoping the vaccines into pharmacies would really help speed it up here but it seems we'll be waiting for longer for that to happen.

 

[Colleen27]

I think part of the reason is the same issue for my state, relying on getting vaccine access to largely the rural parts even though the haven't said that. The controversy for the other side of the state line lies in the mass vaccination sites being just out of reach for our metro. Where they are positioned at don't reach that side really. My county, which I mentioned on another thread I stand corrected has been calling their larger vaccination efforts mass vaccination clinics, has had multiple ones. They just did one over the weekend on Saturday at a church for 2,000 65+ people and the week prior one for 1,700+ for 80+ (and leftover health care workers) at a parks and rec gym. Have people had to travel far in your area to get it? Like you mentioned regional in nature for the clinics.

As for the pharmacies...*sigh* that's another issue. A news story came out saying not all pharmacies in our metro on both sides would be participating. Walmart and Sam's Club while they will be eventually in both states none will be done at this time. Kroger will be but primarily in my area that's Dillions except a deal made years ago closed all the Dillions locations in my metro down. The ones that stayed open are located in the college town where my alma mater is which to be fair isn't too far, about 25-30miles from me. Two of the Dillions in that city will have Moderna in a couple of day though limited in amount. And the list goes on. CVS announced none of the locations in my state and the state next to me will be a part of the initial 300 stores they will distribute the vaccine to. There are a few Health Mart pharmacy locations in my area but they said "depending on vaccine availability, that information will change daily." so that's not encouraging. Hy-Vee which is a regional grocer won't have any vaccines going to both of our states and instead will be going to Iowa and North Dakota, at least the vaccines sent out today. Another network called CPESN advised 100 of its 300 locations spread out amongst a few states including mine would get it but "Unfortunately, each of these pharmacies will be receiving a very small quantity of the vaccine over the first couple weeks," the statement said. "They have already identified (or shortly will be identifying) patients within their community that need the vaccine. CPESN USA sites do not expect to receive enough vaccines "to accommodate all of the requests," so I'm really not sure who that will entail in my metro though we do at least have some who knows if they'll be ones chosen to get vaccine. There's a couple more.

Basically expansion to pharmacies won't really be helping us here in my metro at least not as much as I had hoped unless more details come out. I'm really intrigued how Walmart will work out because there's a ton of locations in my metro. I was really hoping the vaccines into pharmacies would really help speed it up here but it seems we'll be waiting for longer for that to happen.

Not super far that I've heard of, but when a run to Target is a 40 mile round-trip, deciding what is and isn't far is definitely not my strongest skill. I don't know where our teachers ended up going for their clinic; I would assume one of the bigger parishes in the next county over, which would be about the same or a little more than that trip to Target. Maybe 50 or 60 miles, round trip, at the worst. The unions are trying to set up workplace based options when possible, so that's a normal commute (which doesn't necessarily mean close to home - my husband's commute is almost 100 miles r/t - but is at least not out of the way). The worst drives I've heard about have been seniors who were offered appointments at the "flagship" medical center their doctors are affiliated with, which from our area generally means at least a hundred mile round trip, but it seems like medical systems haven't yet reached the point of offering satellite clinics. But neither has the health department in my county, and since even going there is a 50 mile r/t from where I live, none of the options I've heard about so far seems prohibitively far. It is just the normal price we pay for living in a rural area with awkward geography.

Meijer and Rite Aid are supposed to be the retail partners in my state but I've only started to hear that they're taking appointments and haven't seen a list of participating locations for either one yet. From what I understand, Meijer is deliberately not releasing locations of upcoming clinics and is booking them by appointment only via a preregistration system they launched last month, but I've gotten the impression that they're changing the participating locations from one shipment to the next so it isn't as though the program is permanently tied to specific stores. I haven't heard anything at all about vaccines from Rite Aid, but they are listed on the CDC site as a federal partner for my state so I assume that's still TBA. Right now, I don't think there are enough doses available to really make the program all that helpful but I expect that to change when the J&J vaccine is approved.

 

[Jonfw2]

How low can we go?

US: down 57%.
SA: down 84%.
UK: down 70%.

 

[Joe in VA]

87,000 cases today, the lowest total since 11/1 and down MASSIVELY from last Monday's 128,000 cases.

 

[jlwhitney]

Third day in a row with new cases under 100K!

 

[Jonfw2]

FYI: regardless of what you hear, it’s illegal for the federal government to ban travel between states.

 

[gwynne]

FYI: regardless of what you hear, it’s illegal for the federal government to ban travel between states.

Generally that's why states have governors. Are you reading something that is of concern? Link?

 

[DLgal]

FYI: regardless of what you hear, it’s illegal for the federal government to ban travel between states.

The government is in charge of the FAA and they can ABSOLUTELY ban domestic air travel to or from any state they want. They won't stop travel via other means, though.

 

[DLgal]

Generally that's why states have governors. Are you reading something that is of concern? Link?

There is a rumor that they are considering banning leisure air travel into Florida.

 

[gwynne]

@DLgal Your heads up about possible vaccinations for tricare beneficiaries on base has been helpful. Sign up for notification done for us, and I've passed the tip along to others. Thank you!

 

[DLgal]

@DLgal Your heads up about possible vaccinations for tricare beneficiaries on base has been helpful. Sign up for notification done for us, and I've passed the tip along to others. Thank you!

Awesome! Glad to hear it. Our naval hospital is awaiting more vaccine doses right now so it's in limbo but I still feel like I will be able to get the vaccine there before I am eligible through the state.

 

[Jonfw2]

The government is in charge of the FAA and they can ABSOLUTELY ban domestic air travel to or from any state they want. They won't stop travel via other means, though.

it violates the interstate commerce clause.

 

[DLgal]

it violates the interstate commerce clause.

No it doesn't. The clause gives CONGRESS the power to place restrictions on interstate commerce. States cannot impose these restrictions.

Power to Regulate
The Commerce Clause authorizes Congress to regulate commerce in order to ensure that the flow of interstate commerce is free from local restraints imposed by various states. When Congress deems an aspect of interstate commerce to be in need of supervision, it will enact legislation that must have some real and rational relation to the subject of regulation. Congress may constitutionally provide for the point at which subjects of interstate commerce become subjects of state law and, therefore, state regulation.

 

[Jonfw2]

No it doesn't. The clause gives CONGRESS the power to place restrictions on interstate commerce. States cannot impose these restrictions.

Power to Regulate
The Commerce Clause authorizes Congress to regulate commerce in order to ensure that the flow of interstate commerce is free from local restraints imposed by various states. When Congress deems an aspect of interstate commerce to be in need of supervision, it will enact legislation that must have some real and rational relation to the subject of regulation. Congress may constitutionally provide for the point at which subjects of interstate commerce become subjects of state law and, therefore, state regulation.

Right- it would take legislation. Which would never pass in a billion years. Constitutionally, Biden just can’t do this by decree.

 

[DLgal]

Right- it would take legislation. Which would never pass in a billion years. Constitutionally, Biden just can’t do this by decree.

It's not going to happen. A quote by a person in the administration was taken WAY out of context. As usual, this is the news media putting the cart before the horse.