We were herded into a big waiting room with socially distanced chairs, advised to make sure we stayed 15 minutes (honor system) and given iPads to schedule the second shot. The room was nowhere near full. Given how organized they were, I assume they had enough chairs to accommodate the people getting vaccinated.
Vaccine rollout in my county has been… troubled.
The hospitals did an outstanding job vaccinating their physicians and patient-facing staff during round one. Then the governor decided to ignore CDC advice and put the elderly (and health workers) in front of essential workers for round two. A call center was established to schedule appointments, and two drive-through sites were designated for actual distribution.
Many things were botched.
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There are way more elderly than there are ltc facility residents/staff and health care workers with direct patient contact. If you are a nonphysician healthcare worker who works with patients outside of a hospital, this is your first chance to get the vaccine. But it’s also the first chance for every person age 65 and older. I checked the Census Bureau which says there are 98,904 people age 65 or older in my county.
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My county and/or governor decided that we should offer vaccinations for nonresidents at this stage. That means people from out of state or from another county are eligible for vaccination here. Side note: I live next to the largest retirement community in the world, estimated population 140,000 age 55+.
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We only received approximately 3,000 doses.
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The county DoH announced the above plan on the morning of the 29th, around 10am I think, with testing to begin by registration only at 9:00am the next morning. The phone number for registration only takes calls between 9am and 4pm Monday through Friday. The URL for the announcmeent page is also rediculously, unprofessionally long.
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Every page on the county DoH website says the offices will be closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but they do not say whether they will still take calls to register for vaccination.
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The phones are immediately overwhelmed. Later that day a Tweet goes out which apologizes for the high call volume and instructs people to continue trying to call the same number between 9am and 4pm. The Tweet is posted at 5:26pm on the 29th. It also says there is limited capacity for walk-ins.
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On the morning of the 30th the call system is still overwhelmed. It doesn’t put you on hold or play a prerecorded message, only a busy signal or even “the number you dialed is not in service”. The DoH sends a Tweet at 8:30am saying “there is currently no walk-in availability” at one site. Shortly after 10:00am another Tweet goes out saying first-come first-serve for walk-ins starts 9am New Year’s Day, and that already scheduled appointments will still be honored.
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Until about midday on the 30th, telephone operators for vaccine registration were under the false impression that health workers with direct patient contact but without a medical license or hospital ID were ineligible for this round. After establishing that health workers with direct patient contact and a current paystub were eligible per the governor’s announcement and the county DoH website, I was told to contact the hospital and see if my staff could be vaccinated there, then call back. The hospitals said they can only vaccinate hospital employees and licensed physicians.
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Also by midday on the 30th all of the appointment slots were scheduled. People answering the phones were instructing callers that there is limited walk-in availability, possibly that very day. Workers on the ground at distribution sites are turning away walk-ins until the 1st.
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By 1 or 2pm, the county updates their website to say that only appointments will be honored on the 31st and the 1st. A Tweet will go out with the same message at 8am the 31st.
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Early the morning of the 31st, county workers arrive at the other site to meet parking lots and side streets full of people who don’t have appointments. Some had been waiting all night. All such people are turned away. Walk-ins that day are advised to come back early morning for first-come first-serve on the 2nd.
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Around 6:30pm the 31st the county updates their website with a statement from the administrator. He writes that the goal of the first-come first-serve distribution scheme is to distribute all of the vaccines allocated to our county as rapidly as possible. He pats himself on the back for being allocated another shipment next week due to high demand, and concludes by saying it will be first-come first-serve when the new vaccines come in. The press release does not include site addresses or eligibility information.
~Max
I have an appointment to get vaccinated on Tuesday at a state run center. I am a pharmacy technician and I make deliveries to COVID positive patients.
I had to wait only 15 minutes since I did not have allergies or a history of bad reactions to vaccines. Those with either are being made to wait 30 minutes. The room is a medium-sized warehouse, and we were all spaced out appropriately.
Got my 2nd dose yesterday. The injection hurts less than a flu shot and the injection site is only slightly sore today. No other side effects.
There’s a good chance I might get my first Moderna shot next week. Apparently, some of the clinics near here are ending up with extra doses at the end of the day due to over-filled vials. A close friend texted me to be on standby next week after 8pm, as I may be called in, to not waste any extra doses. I challenged it, as there are people far more in need of it early, than me. But there doesn’t appear a way to prioritize them in an efficient way, with respect to the extra doses.
Now, I’ve never taken a flu shot (and I’ve never had the flu), so I’m a bit nervous about it. But I guess it’s worth the risk.
Side question: are there stats yet on how quickly the vaccine is effective after the first shot? Now that millions of people have taken it, are there examples of individuals getting COVID after the first dose, but before the 2nd? Not sure if these questions warrant a separate thread.
Someone just sent me a link to sign up tomorrow morning for vaccines to be given (not sure exactly when that will start) at the ginormous local sports arena. I’m a little skittish about standing in line with hundreds of people, possibly for hours. I’ll have to see how I feel when the signup link opens. There was a signup link a couple of weeks ago for another location, and a couple thousand slots filled up immediately.
The mayor has said they plan to open multiple sites all over the city. I might wait for that. Even though I’m eligible, I don’t consider myself high risk, as I do not see anybody in person. Other people should go before me.
I’m an RN, hospital based.
My Pfizer vaccination was originally scheduled for Dec 24th, Christmas Eve- and I was also supposed to give vaccinations that night but both events were cancelled because they either ran out or didn’t have enough for those already on the schedule.
I got my Moderna vaccine on Dec 28th.
I had an unusual reaction to a work-provided flu vaccine several years ago where my neck swelled impressively several hours following a flu vaccine. I was required to follow up with a PCP, an ENT and an Endocrinologist after that though nothing was ever identified as a problem. The swelling took several weeks to dissipate.
The following year my facility suggested I skip the annual flu vaccine and I did. The year after that, the facility offered to let me get the flu vaccine in the ER ‘just in case’. I wanted the vaccine for the usual reasons and also because I didn’t want to wear a mask on the floor again all season so I took the vaccine in the ER. Nothing unusual happened so I went back to yearly flu vaccines.
My Moderna vaccine this December also triggered swelling similar to that which I experienced with that one flu vaccine that one year.
I didn’t have any other side effects- no pain, no fever, no chills, no fatigue- just this weird one-sided edema extending from a palm-sized area on my vaccination arm, up along one side of my neck, and up to my chin (which made the fat pad under my chin quite large and hilariously wobbly for family and coworkers! If second-family coworkers and home-family can’t make fun of ya, who can? LOL!).
I asked employee health if this swelling would prevent me from getting my second dose and they said no but that they want me to plan to stay for an extended time following the second dose ‘just in case’. It took about 3-4 hours for the swelling to appear with these previous vaccines so I guess I should plan to stay about that long with dose #2. I dunno- they’ll let me know soon.
But I WANT those antibodies! I want that second dose.
My patient population is exclusively complications of pregnancy (23 years now) and my Covid patients are pregnant and with Covid. I really like my job and want to keep doing it (as safely as possible).
But I am a bit nervous about the second dose.
Come on, don’t be a martyr. The reason you don’t see anyone in person is because you’re scared of catching covid. You’re all alone in your house. Please get yourself vaccinated.
Excuse me, but that was uncalled for. Especially the exclamation point. 
A martyr?? One place I’m afraid of catching COVID is in a big long line of hundreds of people waiting to be vaccinated. I’m definitely going to get a vaccine at some point.
Que?.
I meant that with compassion. Once people in long term care are done, you deserve to be at the front of the line.
I assumed you meant well, but geez… I’m not a martyr. This has nothing to do with me thinking I don’t “deserve” a vaccine. I have complete confidence that I will get both vaccinations in good time. When I do, I’ll post here, okay?
Well, I’m sorry. That’s how I interpreted you saying you’re not high risk and that others should go ahead of you.
Got my first dose today, on the first day they were available for frontline healthcare workers in my organization. 2nd dose date is Feb. 3.
Which is good, as I just got notified this AM that we have another apparent outbreak among my patients. First new case in our population in 7 weeks. So I’ll certainly be continuing my max precautions for the foreseeable future.
Now if my ultra high risk daughter with only 33% lung function left can get her shot soon, I’ll be able to rest a bit easier.
You’re a doctor, and you just got it today? That’s troubling, unless it was your choice to wait.
I wonder if Qadgop_the_Mercotan is associated with a hospital, because I thought the only physicians who should just be getting their first dose today are those who work for outpatient facilities like nursing homes, long-term-care, prisons, etc.
As I posted above, in my (dysfunctional) Florida county the elderly have had a chance of access to vaccination since December.
~Max
Oh hell no, I got it first chance I had. 874 of my 1100 patients have had covid.
that’s me
but every doc/nurse/etc seeing patients in person should get it as priority 1a.
I never stopped seeing patients for longer than a couple of weeks in the last 12 months
I agree that it’s a little weird that you only got it this late. A lot of other clinicians are getting the second dose now.