Seems very much “if people are breaking the rules why have rules at all” but there are lots of people who are following the rules still, they just mostly don’t make the news. We’ll get there. It’s just slow and sucks no matter what.
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Prepare to hear about backlash in CT (if they haven’t already backtracked) as on Thursday the governor decided to move to a strictly age-based system. The last special group they are organizing is teachers and other childcare workers in the state system, who will be vaccinated at clinics organized specifically for them (through the school districts).
The reason, they say, is that about a third of the state’s population falls into the 1b group (mainly essential workers) and another 20% falls into the CDC’s comorbidities categories, which doesn’t even include all of the conditions that it should. This is a lot of people. Trying to manage a system that includes all of these variables (meaning, checking at the vaccination sites, which slows things down with bureaucracy) is messy, slow, and expensive. Plus a large number of people with the (covered) comorbidities are in this group (ie most are older).
They expect over the next few weeks for supply to increase dramatically. They have systems set up, vaccinators at the ready, and mega sites set up and are just waiting for supply now, which should ramp up with the J&J vaccine being approved. (Moderna is also increasing supply). They expect doing it this way they can get everyone who wants a vaccine in by June, which is apparently far sooner than doing it the other way.
Time will tell, but CT is one of the top states for their program thus far. Is it fair? No. But it never was fair to begin with. All of the same other restrictions are and will be still in place (we are still in phase 2.1b (rolled back to phase 2 from phase 3 after the first fall spike in cases). The vast majority of serious cases and deaths in the state have skewed very strongly to upper ages. Is it better to vaccinate everyone who wants it within three months, than take six months to do the same thing using a different system?
And all of this may be moot if there are lawsuits that force the issue. (I wonder if they couldn’t set up special clinics for people, like those who have had cancer. But that all takes money. I believe this is a money + time issue.)
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Colorado just created a new category, so I’m pushed down to 1B.4 instead of 1B.3.
I’m excited, though, because the new category is people over the age of 60 and front-facing essential workers like grocery store employees and agriculture, and they all need it way more than I personally do as an employee of an essential manufacturing facility who is lucky enough to be WFH.
My dad (72) got his first dose a week ago Friday, and they scheduled his second dose at his first appointment.
Now with this new category, both my mom and my MIL can get vaccinated starting on March 5 (pending availability).
Colorado is at 439,712 people fully vaccinated / 856,874 people with one dose of a population of over 5 million, so we still have a long way to go.
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Smoking is on our list too and I admit that for like a minute, I thought, “well, could I just briefly take up smoking, get the vaccine, and then quit? They’re not going to scan my lungs as I walk in to verify how much tar is in them, right?”
Note that I am very allergic to all smoke and would not actually do this… but man, it’s frustrating to feel like that is what’s standing in line between me and the vaccine. (I know that is not true either, these are systemwide problems.)
I just want to be able to walk into a store and grab something we need without all the endless strategizing about how to procure something without going into a building.
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Walgreens, at least is not checking whether you have any of those conditions or not. You hand over your consent form and your insurance card and you get your shot. You don’t get weighed, they don’t need a doctors note.
I do think that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should speed things up as it can go to doctors offices and they can just give it to patients.
And I do think things are picking up. I’ve seen a LOT of open appointments this week and have gotten alerts to several friends so they could sign up.
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These priority groups are like airline boarding groups. You see something like “Group 2” and initially think, “All right! I’m going to be one of the first!” And then you realize that’s the absolute last group after all the pre-boarding and sub-groups.
I got my first shot yesterday even though my group isn’t officially up yet in my county because the city I work in ran a clinic and gave library employees the chance to volunteer at it in exchange for getting vaccinated. I felt a little guilty, but not too much. But there was definitely some privilege involved in 1. knowing about the volunteer opportunity and 2. being able to take off work on short notice to do it.
My state is having each county handle prioritization independently, so there are dozens of different hierarchies at play. Especially in more densely populated metro areas like where I live, where several different counties are very close together, it is a clusterfuck of confusion.
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So, I have a question for people who’ve already gotten an appointment for the vaccine:
When you booked the appointment, did it tell you which one you were getting?
With the J&J approval I keep reading stuff about, some people really want J&J and not the others because it is 1 shot and because they don’t want RNA injected into themselves. And how other people really DON’T want J&J because it was less effective in trials.
I know we can’t pick right now and probably won’t be able to for a while if ever - but I’m curious about whether we’ll know in advance what shot we’re getting at our appointment. Or if you just show up and it’s like “surprise, today we are giving Pfizer/Moderna/J&J only.”
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I have an apt March 7th and I have no idea what I’m getting. My apt is through our University health care center and they are extremely cryptic, little to no info. I am very “I don’t care just please give me shot” so I’m ok with it, but I do wonder how more concerned people may feel, and I wish it was a little more transparent.
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Nope. But pfeizer and moderna were the only options at the time. I asked when she was gonna stab lol. Otherwise it wasn’t anywhere but the vaccine confirmation card they give you after.
Eta I think they kept it vague on purpose because they don’t always know what they’ll get?
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I suspected ours would be Pfizer because I knew that the mass vaccination side in question was using the deep freezers at my college, but I didn’t know for sure until I asked the woman who gave me the shot, “which one was that?”
Plus, then it was on the vaccination card.
ETA My mother knew because she went to a private practice and was able to ask when she made the appointment over the phone. I think my father knew because the health department only had Moderna?
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Good to know! I expected as much.
It makes sense that one might be able to tell based on where you’re getting it, eventually.
I hope this doesn’t lead to more people refusing the vaccine because they want one or the other and they can’t find that info out.
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Summary
One person I know has dragged feet a bit trying to get an appointment. It’s a combo of fearing difficulty getting TO an appointment (disability makes leaving their home complex and especially more dangerous in winter) and needing to navigate that twice for the 2 shot deal. The J&J shot is much more practical in that regard. So far the systems I see don’t let you pick your vaccine but they may give you an info sheet in advance that would be a giveaway as to what you are getting.
I will say though that this person knows they have the full support of their family to get them where they need to go to obtain needed healthcare. This is not the case for others in similar circumstances, so yep I am judgy mcjudger and pissed off that they aren’t making getting their shot appointment at their earliest opportunity their full time job. (They are retired from healthcare and have internet and have skills to navigate internet stuff AND don’t want family to do it for them.) Whoever you are… I don’t want you around me if you are offered the shot and aren’t getting it. I need them to get their freaking shots to slow spread and protect me and hubs, because we won’t be eligible anytime soon.
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One of the advantages of J&J shot is that it’s easier for people who, say, don’t have PTO or reliable transportation or have mobility challenges so one appointment is less of a hardship than 2. But… if they aren’t telling what you’re signing up for, then how can they target folks like this who are not making appointments because they don’t think they can get there twice?
How is this even going to work?
I guess we will find out?
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OH HEY it was super warm yesterday (for us, for February) and I’m seeing reports on social media that all the bars were packed! Hooray! 
On the plus side, people were dining outdoors rather than in, when given the option. It wasn’t quite THAT warm out, haha. But, well, that meme about Midwesterners putting on shorts and a T-shirt as soon as it’s over 40 is largely true.
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Yep. I wonder, too.
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I think how forthcoming they are about which shot depends on where you are and how good their scheduling system is. At least here, different types of locations are getting different shots. The big hospitals with easy access to the -80 freezers are getting Pfizer (for the most part). The community centers/city sites are getting Moderna (for the most part). I went to a city site and, though it didn’t say on my appointment confirmation, I got Moderna as expected. The fact sheets were all over the walls so I knew it would be Moderna once I arrived. I think you can sort by shot type for your second dose appointment, though, since it has to be the same as your first dose.
I imagine once J&J starts getting distributed, they’ll have to make it obvious because people need to know if they’re committing to one appointment or two. Some of this will probably happen naturally due to logistics - i.e. J&J will get distributed to lower tech centers, and people who want J&J can look for appointments at those types of venues.
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Walgreens makes you book the second shot when you book your first appointment, so it had to be either Pfizer or Moderna, and it turned out to be Pfizer, which certainly was my preference.
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We didn’t book 2nd appointments exactly – the rule was to report back at the same time three weeks later. We got told that while we were in the line (drive-through).
Edit: which technically told me what shot we were getting before I asked the woman who gave me the shot, come to think of it.
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I knew I was getting Pfizer ahead of time because the person coordinating the clinic told me, but it wasn’t public knowledge. I don’t think they even told people about the second appointments when they scheduled them for the first shot. We were just telling people when they showed up that they would need to come back at the same time three weeks later.
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I know in Australia some reglious groups were wanting to have the option to choose. We have two vaccines available the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer. But the government has advised we wont get a choice
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