Vaccine-seeking, DISGRACEFUL

OK, I’m 74 and Cheryl is 69, so we both qualify for the Covid vaccine.
Things are so friggin’ haphazard here in Michigan. We hear rumors of this list or that, this phone # or that, etc. In most cases, they all route you – after filling out myriad surveys – to our local health dept. site. Ok, once there, you fill out another Interest In Getting a Vaccination Survey. Fine. We do it and then “Thank you… goodbye…click.” No note saying we are on a list and they will contact us. NADA.

OK, so Rite Aide is going to be opening up some slots. We get on, do all the survey stuff so they ascertain we qualify. They list 10 nearby stores. We have to select each one and see if they have a spot. Nothing. We try hours later. Nada. We keep trying and FINALLY YES. They have a slot. We take it. But…NO, first another survey. We do it, click SUBMIT,… AND THEN WE ARE informed that the slot is taken. Lather/rinse/repeat at other stores. Then we hear that a town about 40 miles away has some Rite Aides that have slots. Cheryl tries it using that town’s zip code. It WORKED. So, she got a slot and got the Pfizer shot today.

Meanwhile, I get an email from my local hospital that they have a slot. I click, do the surveys, and I’m informed that slot is gone as they send that email to many people and first come first serve. What chance do I have. So I go to shut down my computer when an email comes in. Another opening. Click…click (giving very quick answers to the survey). I GOT THE SLOT. Sunday morning.

I am really disgusted. Disorganized. Haphazard. Fill in the blank. It’s a disgrace.


Mel

It is just like that here, too, Mel. I'm 73, with a typical list of comorbid conditions, and the major hospital system where most of my docs are just says. . . "Don't call us, we'll call you. . . BUT right now we don't have enough vaccine for group 1a (of course, I'm in 1b) AND our allocation is expected to be reduced once all the retail outlets begin receiving doses." In other words, don't hold your breath.

It doesn't help that each city, county and state has their own criteria. In Illinois, different counties receive different allocations of vaccine, based upon who knows what. They then have their own criteria as to eligibility. The county's system keeps sending out alerts that "At 12 noon today we will be releasing a small number of appointments." If you go onto their web site at 11:55 and start clicking buttons through to 12:15, it never displays anything but "There are no appointments available." How does this happen?

The county then directs you to a list of retail pharmacies and grocery store chains that are part of the distribution network. As you found, you have to check each store of each chain individually, answering the same questionnaires countless times only to see "There are no appointments available in your area."

At a major university in Chicago, they opened a new mass vaccination site. They never announced it to anyone. The center had 1,000 appointments for its first day. All 1,000 appointments filled within 20 seconds online, without it ever being announced as available. Coincidence? Not hardly. . .

I could go on and on. If you look at a map of all the city and county vaccination sites in Cook County and Chicago, almost all of them are in areas populated by minority groups. Heck, there are even news stories about the workers dispatched door-to-door to give these people their vaccinations at home, without appointments and regardless of what eligibility group they are in. Those of us who live in "non-minority" areas have to deal with what the Chicago Tribune dubbed "The Hunger Games of Medicine" to try to get vaccinated.

There is a lot more, but neither you nor I have the time to put it all in print. It is just SO unfair to the elderly who do not fall into any minority category here in the Chicago area. This is just unconscionable.

OK I have advice on how to deal with the Rite aid website.

Its a three step process.

Step 1 is eligibility.
Step 2 Select a Store
Step 3 Grab a Slot

The trick is you do not have to go through eligibility each and every time (which is really annoying). You can go through eligibility and then keep the browser page that appears after you see the message/button that says "congrats you are eligible".

On Step 2 type in your zip code and it will find stores within however many miles. Keep this page around all day. You then click on the button that says "Select this store" and then next at the bottom.

One of several things then happens
1) You select the store and press next and you immediately get an error message saying the equivalent of “all full”. The slot is filled.
2) You select the store and press next and it goes into this loop where you cant do anything. You see a calendar and a spinning blue ring. This looks like a bug in their website, its just taking a long time to get back. I was never successful getting an appointment if this happened
3) You select a store and you see a calendar. Click on the date that is highlighted, then change the dropdown box to morning/afternoon/evening. At some point the open slot(s) will appear. You click on the slot/time and hope someone didn’t get there before you. You then continue to fill out the appointment info.

Good luck!

compiler said...
OK, I’m 74 and Cheryl is 69, so we both qualify for the Covid vaccine.
Things are so friggin’ haphazard here in Michigan. We hear rumors of this list or that, this phone # or that, etc. In most cases, they all route you – after filling out myriad surveys – to our local health dept. site. Ok, once there, you fill out another Interest In Getting a Vaccination Survey. Fine. We do it and then “Thank you… goodbye…click.” No note saying we are on a list and they will contact us. NADA.

OK, so Rite Aide is going to be opening up some slots. We get on, do all the survey stuff so they ascertain we qualify. They list 10 nearby stores. We have to select each one and see if they have a spot. Nothing. We try hours later. Nada. We keep trying and FINALLY YES. They have a slot. We take it. But…NO, first another survey. We do it, click SUBMIT,… AND THEN WE ARE informed that the slot is taken. Lather/rinse/repeat at other stores. Then we hear that a town about 40 miles away has some Rite Aides that have slots. Cheryl tries it using that town’s zip code. It WORKED. So, she got a slot and got the Pfizer shot today.

Meanwhile, I get an email from my local hospital that they have a slot. I click, do the surveys, and I’m informed that slot is gone as they send that email to many people and first come first serve. What chance do I have. So I go to shut down my computer when an email comes in. Another opening. Click…click (giving very quick answers to the survey). I GOT THE SLOT. Sunday morning.

I am really disgusted. Disorganized. Haphazard. Fill in the blank. It’s a disgrace.


Mel

I grew up in Michigan and can see that things have really gone to hell in a handbasket since I left.

OK, guys, serious question: On the eligibility questionaire, I'm under 65, and am 5 years + (actually 6) with non-detectable PSA. Do I answer Yes or No to 'cancer'?

I'm in ohio, we had a guy leave vials of the vaccine out of the frig deliberately.
He was a healthcare worker too.

I'm sorry, no vaccine for me, I don't trust it or the government at this point.
The Virus is serious, but so is the flu .

I was very lucky as a friend tipped me off about appointments available in a local hospital. My wife and i both called and kept hitting redial and within 15 minutes we got through and got appointments. But overall, i agree, the system is disgraceful. I only hope, and i do think, that as the production ramps up, things will improve. The next questions will be, a few months from now, how will they organize the booster shot process to cover the variants.

I am in Florida, but my home state, NY is doing really dumb things. They opened 2 megasites last week, in neighborhoods that are almost exclusively disadvantaged/monority populations. The state decided (In conjunction with FEMA) that you could only get an appointment at one of these sites if you lived in specific zip codes, which surrounded the sites.

They have been open for a week, and the appointments go begging, they cannot find enough people to fill the slots. Because the minority population is largely anti vaccine. Meanwhile, non minority seniors are begging for appointments. How dumb. They finally threw in the towel today and announced that anyone age 65 and over who is a NY resident can now get an appointment. NY is number 44 out of 50 states in number of vaccines given.

Meanwhile our neighboring state, Connecticut, is number 8 out of 50. They are going strictly by age, and they put out a schedule, which includes at 35-44 eligible starting April 12th. Thats the right way to do it. Start with seniors, and then down the line.

Very frustrating.

Meanwhile

I was just checking on behalf of a 70 year old friend and had no problem locating vaccine in MN if one wants to drive 2-5 hours from the Metro area. The pharmacy allocations are putting hundreds of extra vaccines up near Canada.

There were 324 openings in Bismarck ND for next week for those who like a nice drive as well as many towns in ND. (ThriftyWhite Pharmacy’s)

After checking the CVS vaccine website for Virginia unsuccessfully about 50 times this week, I decided to check it once again at 4:45 Friday afternoon. I thought it was pointless because why would they load new appointments late on a Friday afternoon? Lo and behold, there were appointments available all over Virginia!! I entered my information nervously, expecting each time I clicked "continue" that it would kick me out and announce there were no more vaccines available. But my luck held and I was able to sign up for an appointment for tomorrow, and for a second shot in a month. I called a friend to tell him about the availability of Virginia vaccines, and he and his wife were able to sign up. The system is terrible and random. But it seems to reward those who are lucky and persistent. Just keep checking and checking!

I just checked the site again, and there are still vaccines available in a few places in Virginia, especially in the western parts.

Post Edited (fiddlecanoe) : 2/26/2021 11:05:01 PM (GMT-7)

We just got the second dose on Jan 15 at University of Wisconsin. No problem or side effects.

My brother and his wife live in Peoria County, Illinois, where approximately 25 percent of the population has been vaccinated. They didn't have to do anything to track down their vaccinations. They received a phone call inviting them to come in. They've received both of their Moderna vaccinations. No problem. My wife and I live in Lake County north of Chicago, where only about 12 percent have been vaccinated.
My wife is an R.N., and she was placed in group 1A and eventually invited by our county health department to come in to the giant drive through site they've set up at the county fairgrounds. She received her second shot a couple of days ago with fairly minimal side effects.
She's 71 and I'm 75.
I really had to scrounge around on various websites before finally getting an appointment 45 minutes away and am currently awaiting my second Moderna shot on March 8th.
I think it's the obvious inequities that are making people angry.
A friend in Ohio, very computer savvy, has been trying without luck to find an appointment. He's 72 with a long list of health issues. He says Ohio is doing a terrible job distributing the vaccine.
While I was driving myself crazy trying to get an appointment, Oak Street Health here in the Chicago area, which treats mostly low income and minority patients, was calling their clients and offering appointments. So, how did that happen? Who makes these decisions?
More vaccine is showing up, but it's the Cabbage Patch Kid approach that is so frustrating for so many people.

So what would "You" do to make the distribution of the vaccine distribution better and more equitible...relax it's a rhetorical question... I'll be in the area all day....as required...

I got my two Moderna shots at VA. Wife got her first one at local pharmacy, second due on Monday Our daughter works as a manager in the State Correctional Institute. Think she can get one - nope. Virus is rampant there. Our other daughter and her husband in education, that's right - no vaccine. Our third daughter's husband in education - nothing.
Go figure. Those that need them are being left out.