Wow, that was an adrenaline rush! COVID vaccine scheduling for my parents

[wendibird22]

NY, like every other state, is a hot mess for covid vaccine scheduling. They just opened up a bunch of state vaccine sites, but of course have no more vaccine supply than they did yesterday or the day before. And the state now removed the non-state sites (like pharmacies) from the state scheduling software, so if you want to schedule with a non-state entity you have to go website hopping to find a location that actually has appointments available. Add to it that the state expanded eligibility this week and now 7mil NYers are eligible so it is like the hunger games trying to get an appointment.

That said, I was successful in getting appointments for my mom and dad (qualify by age) and DH (qualify by profession) today. I'm on an email list through work that gave me intel about new appointments being released today and was able to hop on websites to get my mom and DH scheduled (at different places because different categories of eligibility have to go to different locations). But my dad wanted to book his himself. And of course he waited too long and sites closed out and websites crashed once the general public got word of the new appointments. But I kept checking back all day and once the website was back up I was able to snag an appointment for my dad and I basically just told him I did this for you, you take what date/time you are given! But holy moly what an adrenaline rush. It is like trying to score front row seats for a concert of a lifetime! It's been a few hours and I think my heart is still racing. My dad's appointment isn't until 2/10, but I'll take it at this point. My mom's is this weekend and DH's is next week. Now I keep my fingers crossed that these places will actually have the vaccine supply they need to honor the appointments.

[MSWR0319]

Congrats!! I keep telling my mom to be ready to book. I would help her, but you have to call here.

[gymnbomb]

NY, like every other state, is a hot mess for covid vaccine scheduling. They just opened up a bunch of state vaccine sites, but of course have no more vaccine supply than they did yesterday or the day before. And the state now removed the non-state sites (like pharmacies) from the state scheduling software, so if you want to schedule with a non-state entity you have to go website hopping to find a location that actually has appointments available. Add to it that the state expanded eligibility this week and now 7mil NYers are eligible so it is like the hunger games trying to get an appointment.

That said, I was successful in getting appointments for my mom and dad (qualify by age) and DH (qualify by profession) today. I'm on an email list through work that gave me intel about new appointments being released today and was able to hop on websites to get my mom and DH scheduled (at different places because different categories of eligibility have to go to different locations). But my dad wanted to book his himself. And of course he waited too long and sites closed out and websites crashed once the general public got word of the new appointments. But I kept checking back all day and once the website was back up I was able to snag an appointment for my dad and I basically just told him I did this for you, you take what date/time you are given! But holy moly what an adrenaline rush. It is like trying to score front row seats for a concert of a lifetime! It's been a few hours and I think my heart is still racing. My dad's appointment isn't until 2/10, but I'll take it at this point. My mom's is this weekend and DH's is next week. Now I keep my fingers crossed that these places will actually have the vaccine supply they need to honor the appointments.

Yes!! My mom is in SC and was able to schedule an appointment this week as soon as the system opened up for her category (by age). Her appointment is not until 2/26, and some of her friends have appointments as far out as 3/20. But she is glad to have one. My father is 4 years younger and doesn’t qualify to get an appointment yet, but my mom has multiple high risk conditions so we have been most worried about her.


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[NCGrandma]

Vaccine scheduling is a constantly moving target around here, too, and appointment slots are a very hot commodity.

The two major academic medical centers here, and their affiliated smaller hospitals, just started offering vaccine appointments to people 75+ this week (after previously limiting them mostly to health care workers). I think that — less than a week later — the state has added the 65-75 y.o. groups to the eligible groups, before they’ve made a dent in the 75+ group. That will add to the craziness.

Last Thursday I got an email from the med center where I worked and am a registered patient with a link to the vaccine scheduling website. I immediately hopped on it and got an appt on Monday (Jan 11), the first day they were offering it. A friend tried soon after, and got a Thursday appt so they were popular.

Other friends are patients at "the other med center" down the road, that was doing all scheduling by phone. They called at 8:30 am, and — after 2 hours on hold — got appts several weeks in the future.

Adrenaline rush indeed!! My friend and I are soooo glad to have this done (with appts for the second dose before we even left the site).


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[Snow mom]

I was so worried about this and tried to warn my mom that scheduling was something she was going to have to be dedicated to. She will be 75 this weekend and my dad is 80 so I was so bummed when they opened eligibility to 65 before they even started seniors. My dad called at 4 a.m. yesterday morning and secured them both appointments for 1/20. I am so excited. I’m far away, unable to help with much of anything, and have spent the past ten months fretting about my inability to protect them in any way. So glad to see vaccination underway. Wish it weren’t such a rat race to secure a spot.

[niccig]

The ILs got their first shot today in MI. Very happy they got it as soon as possible


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[Twin Mom]

I understand. My mom got her 2nd shot this week because the hospital that owns the practice she works for made the shots available to the office staff. My dad went with her when she got the first shot and tried to convince them to give him one but they wouldn’t do it. Fortunately when NY opened it up to seniors he was able to get an appointment about 30 minutes away so he just got his first shot this week. He told a bunch of their friends and many of them got their first shot this week as well. I feel so much better knowing they both got it especially since my mom is still working. They are being careful but I still worry. My brother and I tried to convince her to quit since she doesn’t need the money and we didn’t think it was worth the risk but she likes working so instead of being in the front dealing with patients she is now in the back but she is still in contact with others in the office who deal with patients. Yes they are wearing masks but you never know.

[Dayzy]

I'm in NY and see the craziness here also. My county was supposed to get 2000 vaccines last week and only 200 came. Appointments are being cancelled, people are getting angry. I'm not eligible until after everyone else has gone, but someone in my neighborhood did the math and figured at this rate we will get the vaccine in 4 years.

[RiverRat]

It’s the adrenaline rush nowadays because we can’t buy concert tickets.


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[twowhat?]

This has been (and still is) SUCH the process. All of our grandparents are eligible to get the vaccine in our state, but getting an appointment has been a nightmare. My parents are fairly internet-savvy and registered through their county website and got confirmation that they're registered - now they just have to wait to get an appointment. In general, their county is pretty organized and may of their friends have already gotten their appointments and vaccines. DH's mom is less internet-savvy and struggled for a long time and gave up out of frustration. It doesn't help that the registration website for our county isn't great. So...I think I'm going to have to register for her, or find some other way to get her an appointment, either through a pharmacy or her doctor's office IF they receive enough of an allocation of supply.

There are tons of eligible elderly in our state that are basically scrambling to find an appointment - ANY appointment - and no system is set up to manage this very well. Every so often a hospital gets a larger shipment and offers them temporarily on a first-come first-served basis but we just can't make those work...since she isn't comfortable driving, one of us would have to drive her, and that really takes advance notice. And since we're not mixing with ANYONE outside of our household indoors, including grandparents, that means whoever drives her should theoretically wear an N95. And I've been seeing nightmare stories on FB with these open vaccination events being so bombarded with people that waits are 2+ hours long. Asking for an elderly person to stand in line for that long just isn't going to work. So people are bringing lawn chairs and stuff. One hospital has even resorted to using golf carts to transport patients to and from parking lots. Many elderly are driving several towns away to get their vaccine. It's CRAZY.

And on top of that, we were at DD's cardiologist this week (small practice) and some of the HCPs in that office STILL had not been vaccinated. Something is wrong when healthcare providers are still struggling to find available vaccine.

Everyone that's a part of a big hospital system seems to be better off, patients included.