Seriously thoughtful The Covid Vaccination Poll

[PeterT]

Turns out I've been given a new temporary (3 to 6 month) assignment in work, joining the team who'll be running our agencies COVID vaccination clinic. Not sure what I'll be doing yet; screener / greeter / gopher; we'll see.

Of course this has the side effect of moving me up the queue for vaccination Booked myself for 9:30 am next Monday.

[OtinG]

I received an email this afternoon that I’m scheduled for my 1st COVID-19 vaccination shot Sunday afternoon at a site set up by FEMA at the Texas Rangers baseball park. I was hoping for a smaller, easier to access site due to my mobility issues, but I got what got so I’ll just have to find a way to make this work. I’ve been told that I will get the 2nd shot in this same site a few weeks from now. I’m getting the Pfizer vaccine. We don’t get a choice on which one, we get whatever they have at that site.

[mlewis78]

I don't think that getting a vaccine appointment is a matter of being tech savvy. It's more persistence, patience and the willingness to go through several applications, most of which are fruitless. If you are used to going online and have ever typed messages, it's filling out forms to show you are either old enough or fit other high-risk qualifications, then moving on from seeing the message "you should get an appointment" and then seeing most times, "no appointments available." Refresh screen, try again or wait a few hours or days and try again. I did take at least a week off in the middle of four weeks that I tried before getting appointments. I thought I'd give them time to get more vaccine, since they had run out early on in New York.

If you never use computers, that's another thing. But I'm 69, worked as a word processing operator before I retired, and many of the IT and operator people I worked with were old than I was.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I don't think that getting a vaccine appointment is a matter of being tech savvy. It's more persistence, patience and the willingness to go through several applications, most of which are fruitless. If you are used to going online and have ever typed messages, it's filling out forms to show you are either old enough or fit other high-risk qualifications, then moving on from seeing the message "you should get an appointment" and then seeing most times, "no appointments available." Refresh screen, try again or wait a few hours or days and try again. I did take at least a week off in the middle of four weeks that I tried before getting appointments. I thought I'd give them time to get more vaccine, since they had run out early on in New York.

If you never use computers, that's another thing. But I'm 69, worked as a word processing operator before I retired, and many of the IT and operator people I worked with were old than I was.

Call it what you will, but for elderly people who are greatly challenged sending a text message, much less attaching a photo to a message, it is a daunting task.

Some states and counties have made the process less confusing than others. Many states and counties have convoluted, poorly designed sets of web pages that make little sense and keep redirecting the user to other pages. In my state and county the system has been a huge fiasco. Those lucky enough to find a doctor whose practice can give them the vaccination are lucky, but there are very few of those.

The Feds have one set of criteria. The states have their own modified sets of criteria. The counties/cities have modified the criteria even further. If an elderly person is highly challenged to send a simple text message with a photo, and many are, they are going to be overwhelmed by the online processes they must go through to set up an appointment for a vaccination. Yes, they can use the telephone, but from the news reports and buzz about town and on social media, the chances of setting up an appointment via a telephone call is way lower than doing so via websites.

[Tarana]

I was at Xray at my clinic yesterday and there was a small line of elderly getting their vacs. They all had been contacted by phone by the clinic. Many of the folks over 75 do not have cell phones or even computer access, so I'm glad they are following through on this.

OtinG - It appears the reason why you don't get a choice is that most states received only one brand of vaccine. My state only received Pfizer so that is what everybody is getting. Don't know how J&J's version will be distributed. Hopefully to the areas who don't have access to those subzero freezers.

[WT Sharpe]

After what seems like trying forever, I was finally able to secure appointments for my wife and me to get our shots. She'll be getting her first one Sunday and I'll be getting my first one Tuesday. Don't know if they're Moderna or Pfizer, but we'll let them surprise us. We'll be getting them at a local CVS.

Too bad the single dose Johnson and Johnson covid vaccine isn't yet a possibility. That seems to be a real winner. It has a longer shelf life as it only requires traditional refrigeration as opposed to the deep freeze that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require.

[dwig]

Well, tomorrow actually. I just received the ping to remind me that tomorrow I get my second shot. My wife received her 2nd this past Sunday.

My wife's shots were handled by the hospital that is handling her cancer treatment, M D Anderson, here in Houston. At 60 yrs old, my "child bride" wouldn't have qualified except for her special needs situation, impaired immune system. Mine are at a different hospital and are from a general cattle call for old farts like me, 69 yrs. old.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

...Don't know if they're Moderna or Pfizer....

Just looked at the fact sheet. It came from Pfizer, so I guess that's a pretty good indication of which one we'll be getting.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just looked at the fact sheet. It came from Pfizer, so I guess that's a pretty good indication of which one we'll be getting.

Great news for you! I tolerated the Pfizer vaccine very well.

[haertig]

Moderna #2 went into my arm today. So far (10 hours after injection) it's the same non-event as the first shot. Not a single symptom of anything. We'll see what tomorrow brings. But even if symptoms develop, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

(The forum software won't allow me to change my vote in the poll from "had first shot" to "had both shots".)

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Call it what you will, but for elderly people who are greatly challenged sending a text message, much less attaching a photo to a message, it is a daunting task.

Some states and counties have made the process less confusing than others. Many states and counties have convoluted, poorly designed sets of web pages that make little sense and keep redirecting the user to other pages. In my state and county the system has been a huge fiasco. Those lucky enough to find a doctor whose practice can give them the vaccination are lucky, but there are very few of those.

The Feds have one set of criteria. The states have their own modified sets of criteria. The counties/cities have modified the criteria even further. If an elderly person is highly challenged to send a simple text message with a photo, and many are, they are going to be overwhelmed by the online processes they must go through to set up an appointment for a vaccination. Yes, they can use the telephone, but from the news reports and buzz about town and on social media, the chances of setting up an appointment via a telephone call is way lower than doing so via websites.

Texts are sent by phone and are not used to set up an appointment. I didn't need to attach a photo either. I did not use my phone. I used a laptop. Maybe the biggest challenge for some is knowing what websites to go to, but that was something younger people needed to learn as well. In New York there is a webpage with many of the places that give vaccines (not all of them, that is what is confusing). There is another website with a list of all the NY State vaccination places. I had to go to many sites. I know people in their 70s who got their first shot (in NJ and GA) before I got my appointments. There have been a lot of people posting the sites on facebook and in NextDoor neighborhood sites. It was through a NextDoor post that I learned that Walgreens was about to start accepting appointments. That is where I got mine (took 5 days though). There are a lot of older people on Facebook and NextDoor.

Older people who live in assisted living or nursing homes did not set up their own appointments but were just told when they were getting them and they were vaccinated at home or at least in the same building.

[ownedbycats]

Unfortunately, here in Canada the national guidelines put people with "underlying medical conditions" (you know, the ones that are always mentioned "oh she died but had a preexisting condition!" ) in stage 3. My province is taking it a step further and lumping us in with general population.

If I get COVID, I will likely end up hospitalized (and if it gets bad enough that medical professionals are forced to triage ventilators, I will die). But I am last in line for a vaccine.

apologies if this is overly political. I'm a little frustrated. And terrified.

[meeera]

I don't understand why you have added an "Qualified or not, my immune system is compromised and I won’t get one." None of the COVID vaccines are live virus vaccines, and immunocompromise is an indication, not a contraindication.

I'm immunocompromised, and my family and I will be getting these into our arms as soon as we possibly can. (I'm 1b. Hopefully not long to wait.) I'm inordinately pleased to see my frontline healthcare worker friends getting their appointments.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The moral is: don't stress about potential (and quite normal) immune responses to the vaccine. Outside of very rare, severe allergic reactions (which usually happen within 15 minutes after injection and have been mostly relegated to people with known severe allergies who chose to take the risk of being vaccinated anyway), there is every chance you'll feel nothing. And if you do feel something, it will be normal and probably relatively mild (unless you stress yourself sick over it).

A note on allergies - while the risk is higher for those with existing anaphylactic allergy, two-thirds of post-COVID-vaccine anaphylaxis cases occur in people without an allergy history. So it's important to stay out your observation period, and call emergency services immediately if you begin to get anaphylactic symptoms after leaving (itchy rash, swollen eyes, lips, tongue and/or throat, difficulty breathing, dizziness etc). ***DO NOT keep driving if you are the driver!** The risk is about 5 in a million.

I've been really pleased at the lack of autoimmune issues triggered by the vaccines in the extensive trials. That was the main side effect I was looking out for - Guillain Barre syndrome, Bells palsy, etc - and turned out it doesn't trigger that at all. (In general terms, the risk of the disease remains FAR higher than the risk of GBS from a flu shot, but it still pays for medical staff to be aware of the possibility).

[issybird]

Originally Posted by meeera

I don't understand why you have added an "Qualified or not, my immune system is compromised and I won’t get one." None of the COVID vaccines are live virus vaccines, and immunocompromise is an indication, not a contraindication.

I was trying to come up with every possible reaction, not condoning them. (And I missed a couple.) Some reactions aren’t rational. As it happens, one of the responses in this thread indicates an opinion along those lines, although the poster didn’t vote.