jon, what's going on with the empty 24/7 mass vaccination sites in NYC? Was it a startup problems related to people not knowing they are available? Are they still empty? Are people not wanting to take the vaccine?

Our governor made the call last week to include 65+ in 1B, but no dates when that phase starts. Or places where you can get it.

Data on the IDPH website shows IL has adminstered about 40% of the doses currently available.

This is a huge exercise in logistics. Overstressed state and local governments, hospitals, and pharmacy chains are setting up vaccination sites with the right people to administer the vaccine and monitor people for allergic reactions. And under challenging conditions for storing the vaccines. And the two doses required at specific intervals.

I never did understand how anyone thought we could administer the doses at the pace they were being released from the federal government. Now we're going to release the second doses that were held back. I don't see how that's going to help.

Some things just take time.

Honestly I don't know about the empty sites. They might only be preparing for a future with more supply.

NYS is seeking volunteers to work in vaccine centers that are being set up. Those with appropriate skills can stick arms, but others can register people, get firms signed, check eligibility etc.

If you sign up for 3 shifts a week for 30 days you get vaccinated.


I do know that right now if you try to make an appointment in Westchester your expected wait is measured in double digit weeks.

And this week, since they opened up the spigot for anyone in the essential worker category regardless of actual risk (mini rant), if you try to make an appointment by phone the wait to talk to someone is 2.5hrs.

So not only did the 18 year old stock boy get his vaccine before his grandma on chemo, he probably made his appointment online while poor grandma is still on hold.

By the way I'm a huge fan of the First Dose First plan. Props to Biden for going with it. It will obviously save lives.

Wife got first dose last Saturday. Soreness at the injection site. She said it was a bit worse than a flu shot and not as bad as tetanus.

She had some minor chills and a bit of a headache. Nothing that Aleve/Tylenol couldn't handle. We'll see about that second shot!

Oh, and she got the Pfizer jab.

Save Our Wisdom - WVa's vaccination effort...Saw their governor just a little while ago. They've got the vaccination logitstics figured out. He said that every dose of vaccine they've gotten is either in someone's arm or has someone's name on it to be administered in the next day or two. The state's smallish population (1.8M) certainly helps but they also have fewer resources.

https://governor.wv.gov/News/p...Wisdom%e2%80%9d.aspx

Update on how it's going:

https://governor.wv.gov/News/p...fforts-continue.aspx



All in all, sounds like they're doing a pretty good job...

Mr. Nina can get vaccinated after Jan 23rd here. It's not clear if I can--it depends on how far I want to stretch the definition of "educator," I guess.

I'm not likely to stretch it. There are others who should go before me.

Hmmm. When everything was shut down in March we were able to keep working because tradesmen were deemed “essential.” I wonder if it’s still that way.

Just finished talking to my friend who lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

She has a sister who lives nearby who is a retired US Park Service ranger who has become involved in the COVID emergency response effort in Port Angeles and Sequim, which are on the peninsula. My friend volunteered to help staff a mass vaccination site, so she became eligible to get vaccinated. She got her first shot of the Moderna vaccine today.

The EMT who administered it told her he's been recommending that people take two Tylenol right away; seems to minimize the arm pain.

Interestingly, there is a Native American reservation nearby that is active in the community, especially as it relates to medical stuff. They sponsor a free health clinic in Sequim for anyone who needs it; don't have to be a member of the tribe. Turns out the tribe had more doses of vaccine than they needed, so they offered to sponsor a drive-thru to the folks in Sequim so that the vaccines didn't go to waste. The county was all for it.

That's not the event my friend went to, but she lives right behind the park where it was held. She said it was total chaos the first day because everyone just drove in and waited. The site opened at 9 and the available vaccine was spoken for by 10:30. They're going to do drive-thru events for another six days, so people will have other opportunities but it's still on a first-come first-served basis.

My friend is volunteering for another event, sponsored by the county. That will be by appointment only and will be held in the high school gym in Port Angeles (big city, population 15,000). 15 people every half hour with three areas for processing everyone. A sign-in and vaccination area, the 15 minute rest area, and an emergency area staffed by EMTs in case anyone reacts to the vaccine.

She said the governor didn't announce the phase 1b plan until last Saturday and in theory it was scheduled to start just a few days later, which it did.

Think about how many places in the US this type of local level effort "winging it" is happening.

We're gonna have some rough spots until we work out the logistics....but we'll get there eventually....

Our province has been opaque (polite term) about their vaccination plan. However, what they have released says that first priority is workers and residents in long-term care facilities in high-spread areas. So in the county next to mine (where spread has been out of control for weeks) LTC home residents and staff have already been vaccinated. My county doesn’t have a date for when our vaccinations will start, but LTC homes will be first. Then health care workers and then people 75+. After that they go down the age list in 5 year increments. Where it gets hazy is that at some point they add in “essential workers” but no one knows who those people seem to be. I know people working in K-8 school buildings are definitely not included. My estimated vaccination date (according to the online calculator) is July/August, which is the latest date they will provide because I have zero special circumstances.

Many of my teacher friends in the US have already been vaccinated. I don’t necessarily think I need to be amongst the first, but I find the prioritization variations interesting.

Yesterday the county had a large staff. Cars were bumper to bumper. Injections were given to the drivers as the line went through the bus storage barn. It was fast and efficient. There has not been much snow this year, temperatures were in the teens.
This county had openings left yesterday afternoon. It cannot move on to 1c until 70% of the counties in the state have finished with 1b.

Lives could be saved if guns were used to shoot injections into the aforementioned asshats.
We could give them guns loaded with darts and let them shoot each other to their heart's content.
In the capitol building the right wing pols could have a field day shooting each other and possibly dissipating some of that anger.

Carpity carp carp carp carpin' carp.

Muffin's Sister was literally preparing to go get her shot today when she got word that she'd been exposed in her workplace. Bear in mind that this is the workplace where she is the only person who wears a mask and where she complained to HR after six months of constant ridicule at their hands because she wore her mask.

She works in close quarters with this person daily. Maybe the mask did its job. She has more than one office and I don't know which one is the one where the exposure occurred, but I bought her an air purifier with a UV virus-killing function. Maybe it helped the mask do its job. Carpity carp carpin' carp.

She's being told that she should keep her appointment to get the shot.

She's a single mother of two with multiple comorbities. If she tests positive, should I go down there?

It's a fourteen-hour drive. Do I drive or fly?

Carpity carp carp carp.

From my friend in WA:

quote:

My observation after spending 2 full days supporting (and 1 full day recovering from) the vaccination event....

Manned by combination of volunteers and trained emergency response and health care workers, 2 days of giving vaccines to over 70 year olds.

Based on the sanitizing standards for wiping down the pens and clipboards everyone used to fill out the required forms, wiping down tables and chairs they sat in, etc. - IF there was significant spread of this virus through touch of surfaces - we would all be dead.

MA, just saw your post.

Have an update?

I was just coming to say the same thing, I hope everything's ok with Muffin's Sister!