# Take a guess at when you will end up being vaccinated **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [December 27, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006 "2020-12-27T04:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/101 "2021-01-04T20:12:21Z")
48 with no medical conditions. It may actually be faster for me to go to medical school and become a doctor so I can move to the front of the line. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/102 "2021-01-04T20:38:37Z")
Perhaps I was being too optimistic. [As of about 10 minutes ago](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55527195): > The prime minister says by the middle of February, “if things go well”, the government expects to have offered a first vaccine dose to everyone in the four top priority groups. j ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/103 "2021-01-04T21:30:12Z")
I’m in the Moderna trial, so I might have already gotten it. I have an appointment on the 20th to sign new consent forms, get “unblinded” if I wish (and I do), and get the first shot if I previously got the placebo. I’m glad I wound up in the Moderna trial instead of the Pfizer one, because I would probably be at the bottom of the list otherwise (30s, healthy, doing most of my job remotely although occasionally have to meet with an incarcerated client through glass.) ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/104 "2021-01-04T21:36:15Z")
Of course, a handful might get lucky, like these guys: [DC Friends Get Lucky, Randomly Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Before Doses Expire – NBC4 Washington](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/friends-get-lucky-randomly-receive-covid-19-vaccine-before-doses-expire/2527704/) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/105 "2021-01-05T14:57:44Z")
- 51 years old - no health conditions - slightly overweight (almost all of that has been added since the lockdowns!) - university instructor, working remotely for the Spring semester I’ll be near the end of the line. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/106 "2021-01-05T18:11:56Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > I’m glad I wound up in the Moderna trial instead of the Pfizer one, because I would probably be at the bottom of the list otherwise (30s, healthy, doing most of my job remotely although occasionally have to meet with an incarcerated client through glass.) That was the case until a few days ago. Pfizer just announced that it will bump up all (willing) placebo group participants–regardless of their eligibility group–to get the real vaccine by the end of February. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/107 "2021-01-05T18:15:25Z")
That’s good to hear! I think it’s only fair for the volunteers to get priority. Plus they can continue to collect data from them. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/108 "2021-01-05T19:22:16Z")
I just found out that my 100-year-old mother, along with the other residents and staff in the care home in which she lives, will get their initial vaccines this Saturday. It is, of course, totally up to each individual to choose to be vaccinated. Mom opted in as soon as she had the opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/109 "2021-01-06T00:17:07Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Our medical network will be notifying people via its on-line interface (MyChart). If they’re using MyChart it’s probably worth a quick call to the doctor’s office (or any doctor you use that uses MyChart) and make sure all your info is correct. You don’t want to be further down the line because the occupation field is blank or they put [chronic medical issue] in the notes instead of using the check box for it. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/110 "2021-01-07T13:57:59Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Wow, I’m hoping it’s that soon! My husband is in the same group you are in (we’re in NC as well) - he’s a healthcare worker over 50 (not frontline with Covid). I would love if he could get vaccinated within the next couple weeks. He has not heard anything from his workplace, which is connected to a hospital. He is our family’s biggest exposure risk, so I would feel a lot safer after he’s vaccinated. I know that we’re not sure yet if being vaccinated makes you less or non-contagious, but from what I’ve read it’s a very good possibility. My husband was told by his employer that they would be getting their vaccinations by the end of January! ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/111 "2021-01-09T15:27:21Z")
I’m in group 1C, with no known date. The state is still working through group 1A - medical personnel and residents of LTC facilities. Group 1B are those over 75 and essential front line workers, such as school employees. There is disagreement as to whether grocery workers fit this category, I have no idea what the outcome will be. Group 1C are those between 65 - 74, those between 16 - 64 with medical issues (me- transplant) and essential workers not from 1B. I’m hoping I’ll be jabbed by April. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/112 "2021-01-09T15:36:30Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Group 1B are those over 75 and essential front line workers, such as school employees. There is disagreement as to whether grocery workers fit this category, I have no idea what the outcome will be. In Wisconsin ‘grocery store workers’ were explicitly listed as part of phase 1b. We’re waiting for finalization, but we seemed to have bumped from 1b and replaced by prisoners. Which, while I understand the logic, it’s going to be a tough sell for the politicians to get the general public on board with that one. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/113 "2021-01-09T19:31:11Z")
That’s what it was here, next door to you. As people started pushing for full ‘return to classrooms’, grocery workers slipped down the ladder. Now that restaurants are reopening next week for indoor dining, I foresee them going down another rung. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/114 "2021-01-09T22:29:02Z")
I’m in Group 2 (over 65 with no health conditions). I just got a message on MyChart (NC) that if I was 75 or older I should request an appointment to get vaccinated. I’m assuming that I will similarly be notified when I’m actually eligible, but at this time I have no idea when that will be. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/115 "2021-01-10T14:21:00Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > I just found out that my 100-year-old mother, along with the other residents and staff in the care home in which she lives, will get their initial vaccines this Saturday. My 88-year old father is resident in a memory-care facility. In New York, those facilities are in a different category than nursing homes, some of which have apparently already gotten the vaccine. But okay, no problem, he’s getting the vaccine this coming Wednesday, which is great. I have his health care proxy, and I filled out a bunch of consent forms. As for me, I’m at the end of the line. 61 years old, with no co-morbidities, and I don’t work in health care or any prioritized field. I’m looking at getting the vaccination sometime this summer, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/116 "2021-01-10T14:25:34Z")
I posted this is the “vaccine refuser” thread, but I thought it was worth posting here. A lot of the general discussion about vaccines over the past few weeks has pointed out that the main bottleneck right now is production, distribution, and storage. That’s true; it takes time to produce the vaccines, and they then have to be transported and stored under very specific temperature conditions. This makes things more difficult. But there are places where the vaccine is getting distributed and stored, but is still not being administered quickly enough, and in some of these cases, the most troubling impediments to vaccination are (often well-intentioned) bureaucrats and politicians putting too many roadblocks in the way. In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo has placed such tight restrictions on who gets the vaccine first, including massive fines for hospitals and clinics that violate the rules, that [some clinics have actually chosen to thrown some doses of the vaccine out or let it expire rather](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-vaccine-delays.html?referringSource=articleShare) than administer it to the “wrong” people. Others hospitals have supplies sitting in freezers because they’ve administered all of their doses to eligible people, but can’t move on to new groups without the Governor’s permission. > [@](#): > > Among the clinics were the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in Manhattan, where the chief medical officer, Dr. Peter Meacher, had expected to receive just a small supply of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine to inoculate employees at the network of clinics he oversees. > > Instead, 600 doses arrived late last month, far more than he needed to administer a first dose to his staff. > > For two weeks, more than half of the supply sat in freezers. At another clinic in the city, small numbers of unused doses were even thrown out. If you can keep it in the freezer, at least it can be used later, but once it’s out of the freezer it has to be used pretty quickly or discarded. One of the problems is that the vaccine comes in vials of 10 doses, so if you have to open a new vial to give a person the shot, you need to have nine other people available if you don’t want the rest of the vial to go off. The same New York Times story talked about a health center in Harlem that faced exactly this problem: > [@](#): > > But some workers did not show, Dr. Calman said, and others decided against getting the vaccine at the last moment. That left just 12 people willing to be vaccinated. > > Vials of the Moderna vaccine generally yield 10 doses, which must be used within six hours after a vial is punctured. Not wanting to turn away two people, the clinic opened a second vial, Dr. Calman said. After a quick search, the staff found three other eligible people, leaving five unused doses. They managed to find another couple of eligible people, but threw three doses away because they didn’t want to risk violating the Governor’s order. In Britain, a [different type of red tape](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bureaucracy-baffles-retired-doctors-95gfq789r) is getting in the way. A whole bunch of retired doctors and nurses are willing to help administer the vaccine, so it can be distributed more quickly, but before they can do it, they need to complete a National Health Service checklist of certificates and documentation, including things like: - Conflict resolution, level 1 - Data security awareness, level 1 - Equality, diversity & human rights - Fire safety, level 1 - Preventing radicalisation, level 1 These are trained health professionals, often with decades of experience, who are coming back with the sole purpose of administering the COVID vaccine to people whom the NHS has _already_ deemed eligible, and they have to sit through hours of online training on irrelevant human resources bullshit. > [@](#): > > Jessica Jones, 59, worked as a GP for 30 years before retiring from her practice in Sunderland two years ago. She said she had completed a quarter of the modules needed to volunteer after six hours of work across two days. > > Dr Jones said: “Some of it is quite simple and presented in a childlike manner which is deeply patronising. We were asked to do fire training, radicalisation recognition and things that make you wonder if the NHS is really desperate to have us back. Surely we are capable of giving an intramuscular injection. If they’re really desperate, they will make it less ridiculous.” > > Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the 40,000 retired doctors and nurses who had applied to help administer vaccines had faced “excessive bureaucracy”. > > He told the _Daily Mail_ : “It makes little sense to require ex-medical professionals to provide documentary evidence that they have undertaken instruction in ‘equality, diversity and human rights’ to deliver vaccinations.” ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/117 "2021-01-10T14:38:46Z")
Since I’m low risk and completely unimportant I assumed I’d be back of the line, maybe getting something over the summer. My most likely path to getting the vaccine is via the military, and even there I’m at the end of the line (non-deployable, non-essential reservist). However, I’ve now heard that they are making the vaccine _optional_ at my base, and among the active duty/full time reservist population who are currently eligible, only _52%_ are opting to get vaccinated. Consequently, anyone who wants an appointment has been able to get an appointment, mostly scheduled over the next couple of weeks. I’m now starting to think that I might actually be looking at an opportunity in early February or early March. I did not expect this turn of events. 48% refusal. Crazy. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/118 "2021-01-10T15:51:13Z")
My state’s rollout is 9th-worst in the country, so who can say at this point? ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/119 "2021-01-10T21:11:50Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > 48% refusal. Crazy. A friend of mine works in an assisted living community. ~85 residents and 40 staff. Their Covid vaccine clinic was this past Thursday. Of the 40 staff members, only 4 – yes, 4 – opted for the vaccine. My friend was not one of them. This is southern Oregon, deep in Trump country and a vast majority of the locals subscribe to the “its a hoax!” theory so I’m not surprised but am quite disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006/120 "2021-01-10T22:09:27Z")
Question: at what point do states decide enough healthcare workers have been immunized that they can move on to the next level of recipients? Washington, like some other states, has a timetable (of sorts–as stated before, ours has gaps and isn’t finished), but if the number of Level 1 recipients trickles down to almost none before the end of that group’s allotted time, do providers just twiddle their thumbs until the time slot expires, or can they move on to the next group earlier than planned? Also, I just read an interview on CNN with Dr. Wen, who says we’re basically all stuck with the current guidelines–maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, not hugging grandkids (if you’ve got 'em), etc. until we reach herd immunity. With the large number of people who refuse the vaccine, when will that be? I live alone and have followed the protocols scrupulously, but I simply cannot live this way indefinitely because some people opt (as opposed to those who have no choice) out of getting the vaccine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-when-you-will-end-up-being-vaccinated/929006.md?page=7)