I said that my vaccination experience today was terrific: organized and efficient. HOWEVER, I should have also said that obtaining the appointment was extremely difficult and time-consuming. I can’t tell you how many times I saw “No appointments available.” Just for kicks, I checked a few sites this afternoon and evening....no appointments available. I should have said I was persistent and lucky.
That is CA for you. My parents and stepmom all had a very positive experience getting their first shot. They used words like, friendly, efficient, one person where my mom went was nice enough to put her second appointment on her phone calendar. Getting the three of them appointments (and my stepmom ended up getting her own) was frustrating. My dad qualified for the first level as he is over 75, it took 3 of us almost a week to get him an appointment. Mind you this is Silicon Valley so you would think it would be easy, maybe not to get the appointment right away, but to schedule it should have been.
For us, the site (LA County’s) was frustrating to make an appointment through, too. My dh was the determined one who kept checking and checking until he found an opening for both of us.
In my county, age 65+ people are eligible (that’s us). But, my hmo is not yet being given enough vaccine for all its eligible members, so they're apparently only able to offer it to 75+ at this time. So, dh registered us through the LA County site, and made the appointments at Dodger Stadium instead.
Like you, a good experience once we got there. Despite it being a mass vaccination site (lines and lines of cars!), we were in and out of there in under an hour’s time. Surprised and impressed with how orderly it was.
Just very minor soreness at the injection site for about two days. We were administered Moderna.
I tell people all the time that the key is persistence and patience. You are right though, luck has a lot to do with it.
I was VERY lucky to see a Facebook post 30 minutes before the sign ups went live. It was early in the vaccination process so people weren’t expecting sign ups yet. I texted a few of my neighbors and we all got appts. After that it became so much harder.
Persistence, patience, and luck. Keep the faith everyone, we’ll get there soon.
There are STILL people in their 80's in my area who can't secure an appointment or are still on a waiting list. It is so heartbreaking to hear their stories, and the stories of their adult children who are desperately trying to help, but with no luck. They've expressed how they feel "forgotten." My heart breaks for them. Seems like something should have been previously put in place to make sure this age group could have been better provided for, assuring that they could get protected.
My county in Ca is doing walk in clinics. The first time we had to wait in line about an hour. My neighbor went for her 2nd shot yesterday and had to wait 4 hours! I'll wait next week, but 4 hours is a long time. We're bringing chair, books, and will take turns going for walks, since the site is a state university campus.
This is good to know. I am always interested in how different places are distributing the vaccine. I wish it weren't so hard for some of you. I feel like they should be changing their policies if it is evident that their systems are inefficient.
they are getting ready to open up appointments for people 65 and over. We don't have enough vaccines in the state, and in particular in my county. The county is committed to vaccinating 100 teachers a week. The district has about 3,000 teachers, plus all of the private school teachers, college professors, etc. falling under the umbrella of educators. It's going to be a while until vaccine distribution ramps up around here.
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02-12-2021, 09:53 PM
