Covid vaccination status?

[oscar]

Connecticut also has never flushed doses down the toilet because somewhere ran out of currently eligible people to jab and the governor had threatened to draw and quarter anyone who dared jab someone not yet eligible. In what state was that happening? Oh yeah...

Weren't those doses supposed to be taken and given to places that hadn't run out?

If they were already taken out of the freezer, there's not much time to move the doses someplace else before they spoil. Thus the mad scrambles (where the law permits) to find an arm, any arm, at or very close to the vaccination site, so a dose doesn't go to waste.

At least in my area, some people will lurk around pharmacies, to get doses that would otherwise go to waste.

[Rothman]

Pfft.  I like this more specific data, which does show CT slightly higher than NY in terms of percent population that has received a first dose or both doses...but also shows CT has burned through its supply much faster, thus causing the issues my daughter is seeing firsthand there.

In other words, CT has used up 85% of its available supply for a few meager percentage points above NY, when NY's supply has not been drawn down as much.

Data here

*shrug* Regardless of the details, CT has achieved better results than NY on the one statistic that matters, which is the number of shots in arms.

I am not familiar with the process of scheduling second appointments as I have yet to go through it myself, but both my parents have successfully done so and neither has had any complaints.


New York, meanwhile, has had plenty of messes with distributing doses - no one in CT is driving to the other end of the state to get a shot because appointments are disproportionately available over there. In NY, you have people driving to Potsdam or Plattsburgh from Long Island to get vaccinated because the state can't figure out how to allot things properly. And all this was happening while Yankee Stadium had tons of appointments available but since they were restricted to Bronx residents in the name of equity theater, no one else in the area was able to take advantage. And while the site in Washington Heights was having problems serving locals since no one thought it might be necessary to have staff that speaks Spanish in one of the largest Hispanic neighborhoods in the state.

Connecticut also has never flushed doses down the toilet because somewhere ran out of currently eligible people to jab and the governor had threatened to draw and quarter anyone who dared jab someone not yet eligible. In what state was that happening? Oh yeah...

My daugter just told me that on Monday, the entire scheduling system in CT collapsed for the entire day.  The operators had to take phone numbers and tell them that they would get calls when the system was back up.

System came back up yesterday, but no appointment slots were available for scheduling.  There were only two sites in the entirety of CT open for appointments today.  The expansion of eligibility to 45 and up has totally overwhelmed the system (my daughter reports Gen Xers are far more understanding than Boomers, though).  So yes, people in CT are having to drive considerably around their state.

I'll take her experience with hundreds of Nutmeggers per week over your parents' singular experience any day.

Also, people driving all over NY was a temporary glitch in the appointment system -- people didn't realize that all you had to do was refresh the screen and wait for a slot to pop up and it did not have anything to do with equity theater as you put it.  People in Syracuse have not had to go to Potsdam in over a month (State Fairgrounds has a great operation) for example, and the state system runs quite smoothly -- especially since more sites opened over the last month.  Your information is obsolete.

The current situation means that NY should surpass CT in vaccinations in the near future as recent appointment difficulties will cause a plateau.

CT is sucking it up.

[Duke87]

My daugter just told me that on Monday, the entire scheduling system in CT collapsed for the entire day.  The operators had to take phone numbers and tell them that they would get calls when the system was back up.

System came back up yesterday, but no appointment slots were available for scheduling.  There were only two sites in the entirety of CT open for appointments today.  The expansion of eligibility to 45 and up has totally overwhelmed the system

I mean, the system crashed when eligibility expanded to 55-64 a few weeks ago too. And I expect it to crash again when eligibility to everyone under 45 opens up. There's no real way to avoid this other than being more incremental about who you open up to when - too much traffic at once will overwhelm any web service. This has also not been a CT-specific problem.

Meanwhile the fact that only two sites had open appointments today should not be seen as a failure - quite the opposite, having open appointments day of means a slower rate of vaccine distribution because sites aren't jabbing as many people as they could be.

I am also curious if you know anyone who has a similar role to your daughter in NY, and what they'd have to say about how everything is working.


On a final note, regarding this assertion:

The current situation means that NY should surpass CT in vaccinations in the near future as recent appointment difficulties will cause a plateau.

Well, this is empirically testable. Let's see how things look in a few weeks, shall we?

[Zeffy]

The vaccination is a giant mess in the Philly suburbs. As far as I know we're still in the first phase; I have no idea when I'll be able to get my shot because I am in phase 2, which is back of the line in PA terms. Phase 1 is broken into 1A, 1B and 1C, and we're still in 1A. I don't know how we messed it up this badly, but the three major Philly suburb counties (Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware) bungled up this entire thing pretty badly.

[Mapmikey]

Got my second shot yesterday (Pfizer).  Arm is more sore than the 1st shot but otherwise no other effects I have noticed.

Wife was able to get her first shot yesterday though the system run by the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Other than them being flummoxed by my wife walking to the appointment (since I couldn't be in two places at once), it was quite smooth and efficient.

When vaccines were first announced there was a website that would predict where you are in line (nationally) based on your particular situation.  It had predicted we would be 290,000,000th in line so we did a little better than that.

[hbelkins]

For those of you who are getting shots, if you're taking the Pfizer or Moderna ones, are you getting them in the same arm or different arms?

[Mapmikey]

For those of you who are getting shots, if you're taking the Pfizer or Moderna ones, are you getting them in the same arm or different arms?

same arm for me

[Rothman]

For those of you who are getting shots, if you're taking the Pfizer or Moderna ones, are you getting them in the same arm or different arms?

I believe the same arm.  They track it on the card.

[kphoger]

Do they make sure it's in your non-dominant arm?

[vdeane]

Connecticut also has never flushed doses down the toilet because somewhere ran out of currently eligible people to jab and the governor had threatened to draw and quarter anyone who dared jab someone not yet eligible. In what state was that happening? Oh yeah...

Weren't those doses supposed to be taken and given to places that hadn't run out?

If they were already taken out of the freezer, there's not much time to move the doses someplace else before they spoil. Thus the mad scrambles (where the law permits) to find an arm, any arm, at or very close to the vaccination site, so a dose doesn't go to waste.

At least in my area, some people will lurk around pharmacies, to get doses that would otherwise go to waste.

The issue in NY was that hospitals had finished vaccinating all their staff that were willing to take the vaccine and still had allotments in the freezer.  The state was to take those unused allotments and give them to other places.  And if they had taken stuff out of the freezer, if they took out more than they could use, that's hardly the state's fault.  Check with your staff who will take the vaccine before you take out the whole allotment assuming everyone will!  Even stuff that is out of the freezer, I'm sure it could be driven to another hospital in the area.

I'm sure this is one reason why things are by appointment only.

[Life in Paradise]

Been rather impressed with the way Indiana has rolled out the vaccines.  You can get them at several pharmacies, some big box stores and clinics in my area.  My wife and I a couple of weeks ago went to one of the state-held vaccine events, and they were organized by the Indiana National Guard as well as health professionals.  You had appointment times, but could arrive any time and start the process.  Almost no waiting, and everything went like clockwork.  (They had the J & J vaccine early and we wanted one-and-done unlike what I desire for my favorite sports teams).  There are more Indiana events coming, but you have to be a state resident.  Did have fatigue for a couple of days and headaches, but for the life of me, I can barely say I felt being shot, and my arm never hurt.

[JayhawkCO]

Do they make sure it's in your non-dominant arm?

I've always been told you should get it in your dominant arm because moving the muscles a lot helps with the soreness.  I got my first shot in my right (dominant) and it only hurt for about 12 hours thankfully.   We'll see how #2 goes here in a couple of weeks.

Chris

[Scott5114]

Do they make sure it's in your non-dominant arm?

In my case, they asked which arm I preferred it in. I told them to use my non-dominant arm.

[1995hoo]

I'm scheduled for my first shot Monday, so I guess I'll find out then whether they give me a choice. I'm right-handed, but I use a PC's mouse with my left hand for several reasons, so I don't know which arm would be the better one to choose. Sounds like left might be the way to go based on jayhawkco's comment because I use a mouse a lot more than I hand-write anything.

[JayhawkCO]

I'm scheduled for my first shot Monday, so I guess I'll find out then whether they give me a choice. I'm right-handed, but I use a PC's mouse with my left hand for several reasons, so I don't know which arm would be the better one to choose. Sounds like left might be the way to go based on jayhawkco's comment because I use a mouse a lot more than I hand-write anything.

For the record, they gave me a choice too.  I just chose my dominant as I had been told that tidbit by a couple different nurses in the past.

Chris

[Jim]

For those of you who are getting shots, if you're taking the Pfizer or Moderna ones, are you getting them in the same arm or different arms?

I was offered a choice each time, as was my father when I brought him, for both our first and second Pfizer doses.  I went left/non-dominant both times.

[cl94]

Meanwhile the fact that only two sites had open appointments today should not be seen as a failure - quite the opposite, having open appointments day of means a slower rate of vaccine distribution because sites aren't jabbing as many people as they could be.

This. The last thing you want with the level of demand right now is open appointments, because that shows you're not being efficient with geographic distribution. The fact that NY has open appointments for today in some regions and no availability for over a month in others shows that the state has done a poor job allocating doses based on demand. An open appointment means that a dose is going unused. And since NY won't let vaccine sites jab anyone who isn't otherwise eligible with their spare doses, that means a dose is probably going to waste.

[1995hoo]

My wife just came back from getting her second shot. I asked if they gave her a choice of arms and she said no–the way the place was set up was such that it was your left arm. I assume she could have asked for the other arm, but I didn't bother to mention it because she isn't the type to have asked them that. I'm getting mine at a different location, so I'll ask if they have a recommendation on this issue and will let you know what they say.

[kphoger]

I imagine that, at drive-through locations, they do whichever arm is out the window.

[GaryV]

Do they make sure it's in your non-dominant arm?

In my case, they asked which arm I preferred it in. I told them to use my non-dominant arm.

They asked me both times too.  I chose left for the first shot, right for the 2nd.  It seemed to me it would be good to use the other arm the 2nd time.

[interstatefan990]

Has anyone else experienced a drastic change in wait times between the first dose and second dose? When I went to get my first shot, I was in line for a good hour and a half before getting the jab. But when I went to get my second the other day (at the exact same place and time), I was in and out within 20 minutes.

[1995hoo]

Has anyone else experienced a drastic change in wait times between the first dose and second dose? When I went to get my first shot, I was in line for a good hour and a half before getting the jab. But when I went to get my second the other day (at the exact same place and time), I was in and out within 20 minutes.

My wife said she didn't wait at all today for her second shot.

[tolbs17]

My mom is getting hers tomorrow. She is getting the Johnson & Johnson one. the single dose.

North Carolina opens eligibility to the rest of group 4 on the 31st, and to anyone over 16 on April 7.

[vdeane]

Meanwhile the fact that only two sites had open appointments today should not be seen as a failure - quite the opposite, having open appointments day of means a slower rate of vaccine distribution because sites aren't jabbing as many people as they could be.

This. The last thing you want with the level of demand right now is open appointments, because that shows you're not being efficient with geographic distribution. The fact that NY has open appointments for today in some regions and no availability for over a month in others shows that the state has done a poor job allocating doses based on demand. An open appointment means that a dose is going unused. And since NY won't let vaccine sites jab anyone who isn't otherwise eligible with their spare doses, that means a dose is probably going to waste.

Not everyone is willing to sit on the page and constantly reload hoping to finally get through only to make an appointment for two months out.  My Dad in particular was unwilling to do that or drive out of the area (and by "out of the area", I mean places like Greece or Eastview Mall, much less the long drives to Potsdam many people have done!).  When my parents got appointments for April 11 (made back in February) at the Dome Arena, both of them were made by Mom (they did eventually get earlier appointments at CVS, Dad biting the bullet and spending one of his days off to use up his vacation time before retirement to sit at the computer and set it up, but the point stands).

As for wasting doses, why take a vial out of the freezer if you don't have the appointments to use it?

[cl94]

As for wasting doses, why take a vial out of the freezer if you don't have the appointments to use it?

A vial is 5-15 doses depending on the vaccine. Unless your number of people showing up is divisible by the number of doses in a vial, you're going to have extra. Once a vial is opened, it needs to be used in entirety or discarded.