Welcome to the Vaccination Hunger Games
Welcome to the vaccination Hunger Games
That, dear reader, is a slight variation on what my sibling unit said to me when I related the saga of my attempts to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination.
As I have mentioned from time to time, I am an Old Fossil. And, well, the supply shortage of the COVID vaccines has set off a fierce (if anything involving Old Fossils can qualify as “fierce”) competition for very limited appointment slots.
What your helpful neighborhood MegaPharmacy has chosen to do is to open up their website for vaccination appointments pretty much in the middle of the night. If you haven’t made your appointment for a date in the next week by the time of your first morning coffee, you are shut out.
So yesterday I intrepidly opened the vaccination portal immediately after getting up in the morning, only to find that the three nearest sites to me were already booked up. So I tried to book at the fourth, about 45 minutes away, and lo and behold, there were slots available today!
After navigating through the sign-up process, which took about 10 minutes, I was greeted with a confirmation screen – which revealed that I had misspelled the name of the city I wanted, and had been redirected to a town over 4 hours away. I furiously tried to backtrack and get to a closer site, only to find that in the 15 minutes I had been online, they had been all booked up. Which meant I could either accept the appointment about 200 miles away or wait until next week and try again.
Guess what I am doing, dear reader, as you read this little story? That’s right, I am driving through yet another snowstorm in the East, and if I don’t get into an accident or some other calamity, by tonight I will be back home, but I will have claimed victory in Round 1 of the Boomer Vaccination Hunger Games!
Wish me luck.
Let’s check COVID-19 vaccine availability in your area.
Appointments unavailable
COVID-19 vaccination appointments are not available within 25 miles of 60031 for next 3 days
I am on a waiting list.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/15/metro/lives-hold-oldest-baby-boomers-wait-impatiently-covid-19-vaccines/?event=event25
Lives on hold, the oldest baby boomers wait — impatiently — for COVID-19 vaccines
Boston Globe – February 15
At nearly a half a million strong, the 65-74 contingent is larger than any group now being vaccinated. They also have the second highest COVID-19 death rate, and they were once told they might get shots as early as Feb 1. Now the state won’t even give them an eligibility date, while changing the rules in ways that let some other, younger people move up in line ahead of them. …
State officials, focused now on immunizing residents over 75 and other groups deemed higher priorities, haven’t yet signaled when the boomers’ number will be called. But last week they unveiled a buddy system that allows younger people to get shots if they escort someone over 75. …
“We’ll move beyond where we are now when we feel like we’ve done as much as we can do to get the folks who are part of the communities who are currently eligible vaccinated,” Governor Charlie Baker said last Wednesday.
Massachusetts initially planned to make shots available to all residents over 65 this month, something nearly three dozen other states have already done. But anticipating supply shortages, it broke the 75 and over group — the one with the highest COVID death rate by far — into a separate category that qualified for vaccines Feb. 1. The move split some couples into two eligibility castes, disappointing spouses on the wrong side of the divide. …
Boomers’ anxieties have been heightened recently by repeated shifts in policy as the governor and his lieutenants attempt to balance fairness and efficiency in carrying out the biggest public health program in Massachusetts history.
Currently, more than 1 million state residents are eligible for the coveted vaccines. They include the 75-plus cohort along with health workers, first responders, and people who live or work in congregate settings ranging from group homes and long-term care sites to prisons and homeless shelters. …
It is a better use of my time for now to just watch the news to see how it is going with registration and vaccinations. At 72 years old, then I am still just a kid. My wife works from home, but is taking off this PM to go to her credit union. I have not walked into a bank for about a year or so, nor do I use ATM, but I do shop groceries every couple of weeks early in the AM. My debit card is isolated with its on account into which funds are transferred online. There are more virus dangers than Covid-19 afoot. There are the Russian hackers too.
After finally getting the shots, then my life still will not change for an undetermined amount of time. Vietnam broke me of worrying about when I was going to die. Spring is coming soon and I have a ton of stuff to do just cleaning up from all these winter ice storms. By the time I am caught up at home, then maybe the software glitches for registration in VA and Henrico County will all be fixed. For now though let those with either greater risk or greater susceptibility for useless worry have their fun.
Good luck NewDeal. I hope you don’t have to repeat the drive to get the second shot.