Question about vaccinations

[AirmensMom]

This has been kicking around in my head and I am just wondering how it works.

When/if they ever become available in my area:

1) Is there any mechanism for informing the public, or do we just have to keep Googling it?

2) If they're offered at places like CVS, Wallgreens, etc., is there someone on site to deal with any potential side-effects?

3) Will Primary Care Providers have the vaccine for their patients?

4) Is it always going to be a case of waiting in line for hours?

Maybe the answers are obvious to most of you, but I'm not seeing them.

Thanks in advance.

As an aside, I know of some people in my area who have had at least the first dose, but they work in the medical field. I don't know of any non-medical individuals getting it. Also, someone told me last week that the people she's talked to who had the second dose got very sick from it, mostly nausea and vomiting. Wondering if that's expected.

[cwydro]

1. Your county health department should be able to answer those questions.

Or maybe even your doctor?

[archiemo]

2. Check with your county health department.

I live on the KS/MO border and it seems counties in both of these states will be in charge of the efforts once vaccines are available. I am in a very red MO county and the health department is reaching out to citizens with surveys, etc. ahead of distribution.

[Jirel]

3. The answers will vary according to your local health department currently.

Keep checking until further notice. Lots of places are disorganized.

No, you are on your own if you go to a CVS or similar. Good luck. I wouldn’t do it by choice, but I’m sure many will.

Some primary care docs will have the vaccine. Mine expects to eventually. But it’ll be a while before I can get it, probably.

I suspect the waiting in line for hours BS will end in the first month of President Joe. He has an actual National plan for FEMA to restore some order to the process nationally.

[AirmensMom]

6. Thank you.

Mostly what I've found are that there are no vaccines available in my county and I'm not in any eligible category at this point. There are so many groups ahead of me, even though I'm in my 60s and have health problems. Apparently they're not the right health problems. My husband is 65 and healthy, so we'll likely go together if/when they become available... but not to CVS, etc.

Thanks for calling the waiting in line for hours what it is: BS. Whether it's voting or vaccinations, it is total BS. I'm really hoping President Joe (LOVE it!) can fix this quickly.

[3Hotdogs]

4. I got my first shot last month. I am not a med. provider nor 1a. I got it by clerical error

on the part of my county. (For 3 days, computer opened it up to 1b people. When they found the error, it was closed.)

1. Vaccine and shot registration is up to each state. Some states delegate it to their counties. So, there is no uniform answer to your question that would apply to all states.

2. The antidote to adverse reaction is epic-pen. Drug stores have them. Pharmacy should have a sit down area and chairs in number sufficient to allow their customers to sit for 15 minutes after receiving the dose.

3. See #1, above. In my state, N.J., chain or large group practices are taking reservations for vaccines. No small practices are yet doing so.

4. Depends on the skill of the people organizing the individual program. I was in and out in 25 minutes. That included the 15 minute sit-down time.

[mucifer]

5. Great question. Hoping with NATIONAL COORDINATION by President Biden all of this

will be sooooo much clearer to everyone.

Fingers crossed.

[marie999]

7. If anyone is a veteran eligible for VA healthcare, sign up.

You only need to see your primary care doctor once a month. The reason to sign up is in your area the VA may get the vaccine before civilian doctors. It doesn't cost anything to join and there isn't any downside. I posted on Veterans also but not all veterans go there.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. I signed up with my county's health department to be notified when those in

1b group could get vaccine. Got the email to make appointments at 4:15 PM yesterday. I tried to book an appointment when I read email at 5:45PM, but all 6,000 slots had been filled.

[Footay]

9. State Plans Differ

The vaccine distribution was left up to the states to implement. Once healthcare workers are vaccinated, some states are allowing other frontline and essential workers to receive, while others are going the age-group route.

As the vaccine becomes more available, more sites to receive it will pop up, but most counties are using their county health department to manage. My state has a central website for the vaccine that lists all sites by county.

I received my 2nd dose Monday and had no side effects. I had been advised to pre-treat with Tylenol.

Anecdotal from my workplace - more side effects on the 2nd dose from Moderna over Pfizer. I had Pfizer.

[Gothmog]

10. I got my first vaccine injection (Moderna) today

Houston is trying to vaccinate 5000 people today at Minute Maid ball park. I am on four or five lists for the vaccine including my county website, two of my doctors, my pharamcy and one hospital that I had some surgery at. Yesterday they open 2600 slots at 1o Am in Houston and these slots were full in sixteen minutes.

I had a 10 AM appointment, got to the ball park at 9:30 and was finished by 12:30 The process involves you being given a disclosure form on the side effects and risks of the vaccination and you signing the normal waiver forms. We were allowed to wait in the seats fo the baseball stadius which gave you a chance to complete the paperwork I was sitting behind home plate for a while and they checked my paperwork

Link to tweet

You have to be observed in a large waitiing area for 30 minutes after getting the shot

When I left the ball park the line outside was very long despite the fact that they were "stacking" patients in the field level seats at the stadium.

[Gothmog]

11. Tipsters, tech-savvy kids, pharmacy hopping: How Americans are landing coronavirus vaccines

My son and a friend each have the local TV app on their Iphones and saw at 9:55AM that the City of Houston was opening slots at 10 and called/texted me. I got lucky When the City of Houston did its first round of vaccine registrtions, it was limited to city of Houston residents. DSHS made Houston remove that requirement. I am also the waiting lists wtih two of my doctors, my pharamacy, my local county health department (they got 1000 doses for a county with a population of neary one million people) and a hospital where I had surgery a couple of years ago.

Houston vaccinated 5,000 people today and I am happy to be one of them
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/16/covid-vaccine-hunt/

The expanded availability of the two authorized coronavirus vaccines has unleashed a free-for-all among pandemic-weary Americans clamoring for lifesaving protection and a return to some type of normalcy.

Those searching for a shot face a decentralized system of vaccine distribution operated by cash-strapped public health departments and a disparate network of clinics and medical providers, all crushed by unprecedented demand for a shield against the virus decimating American life.

While many Americans have had no problem getting shots, others like Cohen have spent hours trying to get vaccinated, to no avail. The challenges in vaccinating people mirror the botched rollout of coronavirus testing as a mix of government and private providers navigate unfamiliar terrain while communicating with the public in different ways......

But the task is not as simple as booking a flight. The state website directed her to several small medical facilities offering the vaccines, but their online appointment system had error messages and their listed phone numbers led to recordings saying they were out of supply. Covert has spent hours waiting on hold on a state hotline but has yet to speak to a person. By Friday, the small sites were no longer listed and the website for a newly added university hospital hasn’t functioned all morning.

“It feels like I’m trying to get a Beyoncé ticket,” Covert said. “It feels like I’m fighting bots on TicketMaster.”