Vaccination roulette

Health department nurses distribute oral        
polio vaccine ca. 1960.

I have an appointment with a chain pharmacy here in Michigan to receive my first dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines on March 9. I don't know whether I will get the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. There isn't any way to choose; you take whatever vaccine the vaccination site has.

Having an appointment for a vaccine, of course, is not the same as actually getting the vaccine. Lags in vaccine production, shipping delays due to weather, difficulty ensuring that there are enough people trained to administer the shots--all of this has created problems in vaccine distribution here in the United States. 

In addition, state and local health departments had to create a network of vaccine distribution sites for people in each locale, and this took time.  Like a lot of people over age 65, I remember the 1960 distribution of the oral polio vaccine and couldn't help comparing that effort to the one going on now. In our town, people were directed to their local polling stations on a given day. There, the public health nurses gave us sugar cubes with the vaccine on it. I remember teasing my younger brother that he would have to get his via an eye-dropper because, at age 4, he was still a baby. 

My biggest concern at the age of 6 or 7 was whether I would be able to taste the vaccine (I did not).

As in 1960, the COVID vaccines are free. But special refrigeration and administration of an injected vaccine makes distribution more complicated and time consuming than that oral vaccine of half a century ago. 

And, as in 1960, some people are wary of the vaccine. I think it is fair to say that those of us who are planning to get the vaccine understand perfectly well that we are taking a lot on faith in science and in our doctors who are encouraging us to get vaccinated. Deciding whether to get the vaccine now or later or not at all are personal decisions that people should discuss with their doctors.

What is very different from 1960 is that, in some parts of the world, including the U.S., individuals have to take responsibility for arranging to get a vaccine. So I offer a few thoughts about how I navigated the vaccine appointment system in hopes of helping others through the vaccination roulette game: 

I first learned that vaccine might be available for those of us in the 1B (over age 65) group in mid-January. A friend a few miles away who lives just over the county line called with the exciting news that she had an appointment for her first shot and wanted me to sign up, too. 

But it turned out that my friend's vaccine site was only vaccinating residents of that particular county. That led me to my own county Web site which offered an interface where I could sign up to receive an alert that would tell me when the vaccine was available in my area. 

TIP: Sign up for text rather than email alerts, especially if you always have your phone with you and check it whenever you hear your text alert signal. My sense from asking for both email and text alerts is that the text alerts arrive quicker than emails. 

A few days after I signed up for email alerts, my county health department sent me an alert telling me where I could sign up for an appointment. However, by the time I got to the online make-an-appointment page, appointments were gone. The county gave out its last dose for the 1B group on January 28. No new appointments through the health department have been available since then, and the health department said its sign up interface was no longer working.

However, the health department page had added a link to the hospital system I use, which was vaccinating people in my county. However, the hospital was restricting vaccinations among the 1B group to those over age 70 (I'm 66). That meant checking my hospital system portal every morning to see if vaccinations for those between 65 and 69 had opened up yet.  

TIP: Check your state or county health department site frequently. These sites may add links to vaccination "partners" in your area where vaccines are available. But expect that different sites will have different criteria. This criteria will likely change as vaccines become more available and as more people are vaccinated. 

A couple of weeks ago, my county health department noted that one of the grocery store pharmacies in my area would soon be getting vaccine. When I signed up on the store's Web site, I had to select a specific store branch to receive my vaccine; I was not able to register with several branches at the same time. I also had to complete a short questionnaire that asked if I was over 65 and whether I had any chronic illnesses or cancer, which the other sites had not asked. Because of the ET, I was given priority within the 1B group for that vaccine distributor. But my selected store has not yet received vaccine in my area yet.

Oral polio vaccine distributed  

on sugar cubes. Yum! (No, this

isn't me.)

TIP: If a registration site asks if you have ever been diagnosed with cancer or a chronic illness, answer "yes." ET is myeloproliferative neoplasm, and therefore cancer, as well as a chronic disease. This may be one of the few times having ET will give you an edge on anything. Take it!

My husband came home with the news from a co-worker last week that a chain pharmacy in our area was also giving COVID vaccines. The chain's site was not linked from my health department's Web site. But I went to the chain's site directly and was able to register for notification. One of the frustrations of the chain's site, however, was that it kept crashing and telling me "the service you are trying to access is not available at this time, please check back." A few days later I was able to get through the registration process.

TIP: Asking friends and acquaintances where they have registered to receive alerts is a good idea. Health departments are understaffed and overworked with testing and reporting activities, and, like my health department, they may be behind in putting up links to all possible vaccination sites. Also, expect that as new vaccine administrators come online, their registration pages may crash because they are flooded with people trying to register all at once. Be patient and check back frequently.

Finally, I heard on the radio that the state had added another chain pharmacy as one of its administration partners. This happens to be the pharmacy chain I use for my meds. When I jumped on the site, I was able to make an appointment to receive a vaccination at a branch about 20 minutes away. I also made one for my husband. When went back to the registration home page to send the link to friends, I got the "404 Error" message. However, I did get the phone text alert confirming our appointments.

So I hope I am on my way to getting vaccinated. Appointments for second doses, according to the registration confirmation, will be made when the first dose is administered. 

TIP: If you are able to register for vaccine at multiple sites, do so. You can always cancel offered appointments from these other sites after you receive your vaccination, freeing up a spot for someone else. 

Registering for a COVID shot is a bit frustrating and confusing because information and availability of vaccine changes frequently. Things may be getting better. Since I made my vaccination appointment, I received another alert saying vaccine was available at two more sites. 

Hoping all that is good news. Be patient. And be well!

Related: Coronavirus and cancer patients

Related: Practical tips for ET patients and COVID 19

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