Get off my dick about not getting a vaccine yet (not anti-VAXX)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I live in Pennsylvania which to be frank is one of the slower states to roll out the COVID vaccine. In our state we have a rolled out priority system:

. . . which is currently in Phase 1a, 1b and 1c. I am phase 2 (basically everyone) which should start April 19.

Most of my friends and relatives have already got the vaccine. Most of them are older than me, from another state or have an underlying condition.

Regardless, I met with a couple of well meaning friends 4/1 one of which had a shot and another who was fully vaccinated, and they could NOT believe I could not get a vaccine. One works for a drug store chain and suggested I might be able to get an unused shot at a pharmacy.

THEN this weekend I was at an Easter picnic with my wife’s family, most of whom are from New York or over 75, and most are vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or under 16.

Sometime during this conversation, one of my closest relatives suggested I did not get a shot yet because I “was not TRYING HARD ENOUGH”.

Are you FUCKING kidding me??? I already logged on to a local health care provider, and check once a week, and it is clear they are only vaccinating 1a, 1b and 1c. They are NOT vaccinating 2 YET.

Yes, I tried signing on to a waiting list from another health care provider and a local drug store chain: they will NOT accept my log in because I do not meet the qualifications to be under 1a, b, or c. I’m not over 55, I am not obese, I don’t have diabetes, I don’t smoke blah blah blah.

And NO, I am NOT going to lie and take shot meant for someone else who needs it more.

Finally, NO, I am not hanging out at pharmacies every night 830pm hoping they mention they have have left over doses, or making 500 phone calls or emails to try and find one. Hey if someone calls me and tells me I have 15 minutes to get to the drug store to get a shot or it expires am I there? Of course.

Am I frustrated Pennsylvania’s vaccine rollout has been flawed? Of course.

Am I jealous when I see so many friends or family got a shot and I am on the outside looking in?

Not really, I’m happy they got it. And I take a small amount of pride that while I am no Richard Simmons, my health is such that I can step aside and be part of the last group to get a vaccine, even though I am 53.

Soooooo . . . .fuck off, leave me alone, and let me get a vaccine when it is MY FUCKING TURN, I am looking forward to it when it is READY. Otherwise, enjoy YOUR vaccination, and get off my jock!

2

The most I would do is try Dr. B. It notifies you via text of leftover shots in the surrounding area. Expecting people to actually wait outside shot locations is, I agree, stupid. But it’s nice to be able to sign up for a waiting list even if you don’t yet qualify.

As for the rest, yeah, I commiserate. I’d rather the pressure be the way it is for you than the other way, but it still sucks when people push too hard.

I wonder if the reason Pennsylvania is still on 1-c is that a greater percentage of you guys are getting your shots. Here in Arkansas, we switched over to 16+ a week ago, and one clinic still had to push “first come first served” after too few appointments were made that week.

3

Yesterday was my first day of eligibility in my state, and I couldn’t find anything available using all the websites. Today I got an appointment for tomorrow (Pfizer) through one of the pharmacy sites and I’m waiting on the state site which told me I’d get my invite today. If the state can offer me J&J I’ll take that, but otherwise I’m now on the clock.

Checking around 6:00 AM seems to be the ticket for when they open availability. But until you qualify there’s very little you can ethically do other than hang around near closing time or use sites like Dr B.

4

My Mom is 91 years old and getting her first shot on Saturday. It’s been a pain.

My Wife and I are all vaccinated. The county I work for really has it’s shit together.

5

I suspect we’re in the same state, and the same eligibility pool. I was able to find a first dose appointment for next Monday, but it’s a bit of a drive and I didn’t find it through the state-run website.

No one has given me any grief for waiting this long. I have friends who have posted on Facebook about receiving the vaccine already, and I’m usually a bit curious how they were eligible before me; but since it may involve a medical condition it seems impolite to ask. On the other hand, most of my co-workers are younger than I am, and only one of them has mentioned getting the first dose yet.

6

I’ve had the same questions, but I refuse to ask them because frankly it’s none of my business. But I’ve also had acquaintances who’ve said they just gave the wrong age to jump the queue, and no one ever checked. I’m not going to call them out but it definitely makes me think differently about them.

7

I posted very much the same question on Facebook, but not addressed to anyone in particular. A few of my friends volunteered their reasons. Some are in states that have full eligibility already, another has a job that got her into a earlier stage of the rollout.

There’s a website I’ve been checking for a while that is tracking the progress of vaccinations, including a breakdown of what percentage of the population has been vaccinated in each state. After a poor start, Massachusetts (where I am) has been doing quite well (by that metric, anyway). I was a bit surprised to find out that some states with a lower percentage have gone to full eligibility already.

8

The mass vaccination sites here (pun intended I guess) got off to a slow start, but now they’re churning out vaccinated citizens at a remarkable rate. And while I know you & Telemark have your appointments, I’d note for anyone else in MA that there’s a Twitter account (vaccinetime) that tweets the instant new MA appointments are dropped anywhere in the states, and I’ve been able to get first appointments for two different people that way.

Anyway, going back to the OP: yeah, people can be assholes, especially when they’re suddenly feeling all virtuous.

9

I just got an appointment for this afternoon at the MA site in Boston. It’s hard to tell what version of the vaccine I’ll get, but since this is more convenient than driving an hour to get one at CVS I switched. I hope it’s J&J, but the appointment confirmation doesn’t say. There’s no second dose scheduled, so there’s still hope.

10

The CDC changed their definition of what counts as a co-morbidity last week. I know that Pennsylvania also adopted these changes because the change made my sister (also in PA) qualify now.

If you are interested, you could check to see if you qualify under these new guidelines. The big ones seem to be “overweight” and “asthma” as covering a lot more people than before. “overweight” is defined as BMI > 25 which covers something like 2/3 of Americans. Very fit people can qualify under this ‘condition’ because BMI is kind of dumb.

If you thought that was shit and didn’t want to take advantage I wouldn’t blame you, but the policies in PA did change on Friday.

11

I have accompanied people to two different sites in Massachusetts, where they got Pfizer’s vaccine. In both cases, they were given a little card with a QR code that allowed them to instantly schedule a second appointment without the usual hassle.

That said, I hope you get J&J … That’s what I got, and I enjoyed not having to go back a second time.

12

Interesting. Around here, when I got my shot in early March, I had the opposite response: how in the hell did you get a vaccine, with people almost suspicious that I had somehow jumped the queue (I was eligible because of my volunteering at the food pantry – it was the food pantry themselves that contacted me to give me a reservation code – and the next week I was eligible anyway because I live in a prioritized neighborhood where everyone can get their vaccine regardless of status, because our ZIP code was one of the hardest hit by COVID.) People here seem to be waiting their turn and there is social pressure not to jump the line.

13

I’m amused at how different people approach the different vaccines. I’m also in MA and have J&J scheduled for later in the week (at Walgreens, in my town, score!). But I would have slightly preferred Pfizer.

14

If I get J&J I’ll be fully vaccinated and able to attend my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah at the start of May. Which means I’ll also be able to fly to FL first and accompany my aging parents on the flights to Alabama for the event. Avoiding a second shot is fine, but I want to be able to help my parents.

Unfortunately, I can’t really afford to wait since if I don’t get the J&J this week I wouldn’t be able to go anyway. So I get the shot today and hope for the best.

15

You could try spending some quality time on the Walgreens website. They tell you the type of vaccine. Both my husband and I are getting J&J from Walgreens this week. His is in Lynn, mine is in Cambridge. If you are interested I can tell you the tips I used to get our appointments.

16

I volunteer at a food pantry here in North Texas and we didn’t get any priority. Most of the volunteers are over 65 so they were getting their shots in February. Myself and another guy are around 60 and we were speculating at the time that we probably wouldn’t be eligible until May. A week later Texas opened up to 50 and over. One of the other volunteers, a lady in her early 70s, said with complete sincerity, “It’s so nice that you young people are eligible now.” Made my day.

I got my first shot (Pfizer) three weeks ago and I get the second next week.

17

I tried Walgreen’s this morning and all day yesterday. No luck. If I could get a J&J scheduled in the next 2 hours I’d take it, otherwise I’m just going ahead with the state site and taking what they give me. Any tips would be appreciated.

18

I booked an appointment for next Monday in Lowell and thought I did pretty well. I tried the e-mail link just now and the earliest it had to offer was downtown Boston on Sunday, so I’ll stick with what I’ve got.

The people at the vaccination sites must be working their asses off, so I wondered if I could do something nice for them when I go. Does anyone know if they could accept a batch of homemade oatmeal raisin cookies, or does that violate safety protocols? I checked the website and couldn’t find an answer. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever found an answer to one of my question in a website FAQ, ever.

19

Yeah, here we were specifically listed under the 1b tier; I was unaware of this, and it wasn’t publicized, but if you looked under the local guidelines, food pantry workers were specifically enumerated. My role in the pantry work involved delivering goods and entering the domiciles of elderly, disadvantaged people who often didn’t wear masks, so it made sense to me, especially not so much for my protection, but theirs also.

20

Reading the OP, I recall a SNL skit from a week or two ago regarding the vaccine rollout, and they said something like “Americans just LOVE it when they can get something before someone else.” I can easily see some people I know behaving the same way - either “I got mine, how come you don’t have it yet?” or “You got yours? WTF - why you?”