That’s the California rule.
And it was yesterday - March 9th. I decided to volunteer as a vaccine worker (I do exciting things like hand out paperwork and affix labels to paperwork and sanitize pens and clipboards) - which made me a “health care worker” - volunteers get first dibs on leftovers at the end of the day.
This is a weird question but does vaping count as smoking? I realized I might be eligible earlier than I thought. I used to smoke and switched to e-cig to quit. It’s not good but it’s better. Is there a universal determination? Like even when I do health forms I never know what to put. Yes I inhale nicotine, but not true smoke.
Just putting this here for anyone looking forward to being able to visit friends and other loved ones in nursing homes:
The guidelines I read a few days ago had the definition of a smoker as someone who has smoked 100 cigarettes over their lifetime. According to Arizona, you are a smoker.
For those still waiting, Randy Rainbow has your back.
And the answer is…today! I got a text from my GP’s office last night telling me I was now eligible to receive my first vaccination. It was a gruelling process, let me tell you:
- Receive text last night
- Click on link in text
- Get told which location to go to (my GP’s office)
- View a list of available timeslots, one of which was this morning (others were next week or later in the month)
- Check my calendar to see when I’m free
- Click on preferred timeslot
- Receive second text confirming appointment
Total time between the two texts: four minutes (including checking my availability).
And the vaccination process was insanely fast - I think I spent all of three minutes in the building. Turn up, confirm identity, get handed a piece of paper, get shown straight into a room, answer a few standard questions, get jabbed, get handed a brochure and a card with the vaccination details on it, and out the door again.
But this is the hell those of us living under the yoke of socialized medicine must endure.
(Astra Zeneca, for those keeping score. My wife had the Pfizer one two weeks ago, at the same location, with minimal aches, pains or other issues afterwards besides a sore arm. I’m told the side effects for AZ are worse, so I’ve got that to look forward to in the next few days.)
Ok, so to answer my own question: the CDC site now has a cumulative tracker for breakdown by vaccine developer (J&J/Pfizer/Moderna.) Sadly, it isn’t tracked there day-over-day, but presumably if someone were inclined to visit daily and record the value, one could do one’s own tracking with this data. As of today, the J&J is still relatively small - about 600k doses into arms (though 3MM delivered.)
Ok, that was fantastic.
By early May, if not sooner! 
Hey, I guessed right!
So I ended up getting on the state DOH’s collaborative team on COVID vaccinations. We were supposed to meet 3/17. However, tonight I got an emergency meeting notice for tomorrow because President Biden “President Biden announced today that all states must open up vaccine to people 16 years and older starting May 1.”
I’m delighted. It’s one thing to say there will be more doses of the vaccine given to states; it’s quite another to mandate that all states MUST start vaccinating everyone who’s over 16 and willing by May 1st.
This bodes well.
Monday, March 15th, at 345pm through the hospital system where I had my transplant.
Oh my gosh, I and my parents are all scheduled for March 17 for our first Pfizer dose! We kind of wanted the J&J but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess! I can’t believe we got appointments!
We’ve been telling ourselves that every person who gets fully vaccinated, even if it’s not us, is still good for us indirectly, but still it has been frustrating. More people at my office are being able to get signed up also. Texas must be getting more doses lately. Thought we’d be waiting until sometime this summer, honestly.
Next week California opens vaccinations to a anyone with an underlying health condition. They have a specific list, but according to the LA Times, they will not be requiring any proof. You just need to attest that you have a relevant condition. Because of health privacy issues, it seems.
That should be interesting.
My second dose of Pfizer is on Friday, but the great news is that I finally got my gf signed up for her first.
They are doing mass vaccinations at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and I got her a spot!
If you are interested in vaccine distribution by state, the CDC has the datasets out publicly…
https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/COVID-19-Vaccine-Distribution-Allocations-by-Juris/saz5-9hgg
https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/COVID-19-Vaccine-Distribution-Allocations-by-Juris/w9zu-fywh
https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/COVID-19-Vaccine-Distribution-Allocations-by-Juris/b7pe-5nws/data
I’m volunteering at a clinic within a hospital system, and because the hospital system has access to your chart, you can’t even get to the appointment screen unless you qualify. It even knew my mother had a tetanus shot and had to wait.
But big vaccination sites really don’t know - and if you get into our system through a non-health related qualification (like teacher), we don’t check once you arrive - you are scheduled for a vaccine and we AREN’T going to waste that shot telling you no.
"Take a guess at when you will end up being vaccinated"? I’m guessing late April. But some days I get the feeling that I’m standing in line at the deli and the sign behind the counter is blinking - ‘now serving customer number 101,000,000’ – and my ticket number is 330,000,001
Great site! Thanks for posting it.