vaccination

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My aunt, who lives in Victoria (moved there recently from Vancouver), is saying that covid vaccine availability is very limited in BC area now and so she went down and crossed the border to get a vaccination. She holds dual citizenship so I assume that how she got across - though back into CA she had to isolate for ten days. I believe she went to a costco near bellingham.

Are others in CA doing the same? I am reading from another relative who works at UBC that t is actually a real mess with a fraction of the needed doses. He claims a vaccination rate that is a small fraction of US and EU countries. Maybe it just isn't wide spread there and the population density keeps the spread down.

How are they able to get across the border is my question, though?

Pre-covid - I was usually a month at a time in the summers up in Gulf Islands. Beautiful area...
K
 
Could anybody that is posting about themselves, their aunts, wives, etc., getting COVID vaccines, please post some other relevant information as well? In Washington, certain folks are eligible and others are not. 65+ and 50+ living in a multi-generational household are eligible. If you lie about the multi-generational thing, apparently you can get vaccinated. Some other groups (i.e. first responders, nurses, nursing home, etc.) also but most people are not.

If you are eligible, are you able to schedule the vaccine? If scheduled, were you able to get it? How difficult was scheduling?

I am 64 (65 in a few months) and not eligible as far as I can tell, so I am patiently waiting as I have been asked to do. Most of my neighbors, all older, are already vaccinated. I would really like to get vaccinated so I can travel by air back east and relieve my patient sister that is watching over our 90-years-old mother.

Otherwise, I am incredibly worried about flying. An awful lot of the posted deaths from COVID are 60-65-years-old.

Saying you know someone that got the vaccine without any other information is confusing. If they are eligible, it seems obvious why they can get vaccinated. If they are not, and get vaccinated anyway, or can travel to a place where they can, I'd be curious why. Again, I'd really appreciate knowing if I'm being taken for a fool for not trying (or lying) to get vaccinated.
 
My wife has already been vaccinated. But she is an active nurse in a hospital NICU. Wisconsin, at least here in Dane County, is just about ready to start Group 1B. I will fall into that group as a school bus driver. I think one of the other's in that group are 65 years of age and older. I'm only 63, so would miss out there. I've read stories of some folks lying to get it. I guess if you can live with yourself for lying, you do what you do.... I figure we'll all have the opportunity to get it eventually. As for reaction, my wife had a sore arm both times. She said a few of her coworkers got a little sick after the second shot. But didn't last long. I think the shots here in our county are being given at the clinics or hospitals. Colby
 
robhwa":33kkpgvp said:
Could anybody that is posting about themselves, their aunts, wives, etc., getting COVID vaccines, please post some other relevant information as well?
I'm 62 next month but Merry is 72. In California, they are finally allowing those 65+ to make appointments.

The official state vaccination website is a joke. It crashed several times, and of the hundred or so vaccination sites in Los Angeles County on the site's map, only one or two have any appointments available. The ones that show availability ask you to fill out several pages of questions, only to lead you to a page that says no appointments available.

There is another website listing available appointments. I was fortunate to score one of eleven appointments for Merry. We went to the Forum superpod site on Saturday for her first shot. The line was only 25 minutes long. Everyone was well organized. Her second shot is scheduled for three weeks.

She reported minor pain in her arm for twelve hours. She said it was slightly more painful than a flu shot.
 
robhwa":1e7of52f said:
Could anybody that is posting about themselves, their aunts, wives, etc., getting COVID vaccines, please post some other relevant information as well? In Washington, certain folks are eligible and others are not. 65+ and 50+ living in a multi-generational household are eligible. If you lie about the multi-generational thing, apparently you can get vaccinated. Some other groups (i.e. first responders, nurses, nursing home, etc.) also but most people are not.

If you are eligible, are you able to schedule the vaccine? If scheduled, were you able to get it? How difficult was scheduling? . . .

Saying you know someone that got the vaccine without any other information is confusing. If they are eligible, it seems obvious why they can get vaccinated. If they are not, and get vaccinated anyway, or can travel to a place where they can, I'd be curious why. Again, I'd really appreciate knowing if I'm being taken for a fool for not trying (or lying) to get vaccinated.

I don't personally know of anyone who has cheated to get a shot. Apparently, some have.

My wife and I are both age-qualified under Phase 1B1. We have both gotten the first shot (Moderna) and are scheduled for the second shot. The instant I heard on the radio that the Governor had announced the move to 1B1, I fired up my desk top, my lap top, and my cell phone, and kept all three going until early the next morning. I got a couple hours of sleep and started in again at 4:00 A.M. Despite the public announcement, all the official government sites and private sites I could find on line indicated at that time that the state was still in Phase 1A. I choose to ignore what I read, and stuck with what I heard. By entering and re-entering data in forms and hitting refresh over and over, and sending emails and waiting on the phone on hold, I finally made an appointment at a Kirk's Pharmacy in Eatonville for the middle of March. Eventually, I actually made four appointments, cancelling each in turn as I found an earlier one. Sometimes cancelling was as hard as making an appointment. The shots both my wife and I ended up getting came in fact not from all my hard work, but from word of mouth! My wife got word from a friend that Kaiser had extra doses and made an appointment for the next day. Shortly thereafter, I heard from one of my retired-guys'-lunch buddies that a nearby Sea Mar clinic had doses "Right Now!". I spent four hours waiting in line. I was the last person to get a shot.

So, what have I learned about the system? Do Not Give Up. I think things are getting better in terms of information reliability, but don't believe any one source.

If you haven't already, be sure to visit:
The State DOH Vaccine site (notwithstanding its terrible record of being inaccurate) : https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine
The Phase Finder Site: https://form.findyourphasewa.org/210118771253954
The Vaccine Locator Site: ttps://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Immunization/VaccineLocations
And your county health department website.

Even though you may not be currently eligible, I would start looking and keep checking. It is true that the very last thing anyone wants is to have doses go bad and get poured down the drain. You might find a situation where the first person to show up, regardless of eligibility, gets the shot.

I spent most of my time on the Vaccine Locator Site just entering information and checking over and over until I found a slot open. Things change by the minute.

Here is a toll-free State DOH number that may be of some help in scheduling: 800-525-0127
 
Bill, Good answer.

I got mine, fit into the 70+ age group :shock: :roll: but I got mine through the Jamestown Clallam Health Care Clinic here. I waited in the car from 10PM until 0900 the next morning and I get the 2nd shot next weekend.

Rob, There are shots coming up at your local pharmacy among other places, Safeway, QFC (Krogers), Fred Meyers for some, and you just have to keep after the contact points, MD office or health clinic, even the Fire Departments are doing shots as they get the vaccine.

Keep at it, and best in your search efforts.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Bill, great information on the required process to get vaccinated in WA State at this time. It's pretty clear that a normal, methodical approach won't work. Think of the times you or your kids have needed to register online for a popular class, or show up early for a Black Friday special and you're just about there.

Sad that it's this way, but you've clearly described the reality for many folks. Hopefully things will improve. The feeling of liberation and hope is worth the effort. Important to step up and help your less computer savvy family and friends with this process!

Kind regards, Mike
 
Rob: My wife and I personally got ours 2/2 being front-line HCW's. I work at UWMC which is a vaccine site. The appointments were filling up in real time as my colleagues and I scrambled to sign up. I ultimately chose an undesirable time and was able to book. 2nd shot appointment is MUCH easier. Wife runs her own HH firm, and was able to get in through Kaiser: She called and was given a temporary Kaiser ID, then proceeded to schedule. Hers took quite a bit of phone time and diligent follow-up: I sat for a few hours and kept at it until we had a verified appointment. I got Pfizer, she got Moderna. Both our (80+) parents were able to schedule through the UWMC system as both use it for their personal healthcare. My dad is computer savvy and fought through in a few hours; we helped my MIL schedule hers for a 6AM Saturday slot.

Once you become eligible: If you are affiliated with any of the hospital vaccine provider systems I would suggest making an appointment via E-Care, or their system portal. The process (at least at UW) is very confusing, but try to go through the "appointments" menu bar vs. the COVID prompts, which lead you nowhere.

If not so affiliated, I'd defer to previous posts. Cast as wide a net as possible, and of course be prepared to devote some time and energy. Sadly, waiting "your turn" will not work at this time.

Very best wishes for success!
 
Each state is different--and the target moves regularly. Certainly a "caregiver" for an elderly and/or person with severe other morbidities is eligible.

I am reading that in many cases there are either vaccines left at the end of the day (if a certain type of syringe is used sometimes one or two extra doses can be obtained per vial.

Also it was stated in LA Times that one site in South Central Los Angles had a no show rate of up to 30%. Persons from more affluent neighborhoods were waiting at the end of the day to see if there were injections which had not been used. In many cases if not used that first day, they have to be discarded.

I believe that all of our close friends have been able to obtain the vaccination (most are over 80 and have co-morbidity. Many of the people have gotten a "word of mouth" that a site is opening up. Using the Publix Grocery store. pharmacy has been very difficult to get appointments in Florida.

We are due our second vaccination this Saturday. Hopefully there will be vaccine available. Florida is over 8% vaccinated, Washington at 7.9%. Alaska is top and West Virginia is next in % vaccinated.
 
If you are eligible, are you able to schedule the vaccine? If scheduled, were you able to get it? How difficult was scheduling?
Rob,

Early in this thread I gave a detailed account of my experience getting a shot here in the state of Washington. (Note I am 75.)
 
I believe the subject should be Physican dies from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia after recieving the COVID 19 vaccine. There is no way to prove one way or the other that the COVID Vaccine (at this point) was the cause of the ITP as tragic as this death is. Suspicious yes. Proven no.

The video is well done and. presents the facts well. There have now been over 26 million doses of the vaccine given and not a single death has been proven to be caused by the vaccine. The chances of an anaphylactic reaction from the Moderna Vaccine is about 2.5 out of one million. For The Pfizer vaccine it is about 11 out of a million. None of these have died.

Unfortunately there are many young healthy persons who have died from the COVID Virus. As most things in life, it is benefit vs reward. Chance of reaction vs the chance of dying or having long morbidity from the COVID infection. Granted there are still lots of unknowns about the future, including what the susceptibility of the variants of the virus will be.

My platelet level is ~50,000, thus I carry a diagnosis of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia. to complicate it further I take Plavix which keeps those platelets from agglutinating. I had no reservations taking the vaccine. Marie has had an anaphylactic reaction to a certain foot, and we always carry an epipen, Benedryl and steroids. She had no symptoms after the COVID vaccine.
 
Under 30 and in the health I was at that time, I would probably pass on the vaccine (unless I was living with others of course). Over 50 - take it for sure. Mortality is highly correlated simply with age. Interestingly, the 1918 pandemic was more equal among all age groups and had very high fatality rate for the youth. IIRC - more than half of the fatalities in 1918 were for people under 35 or 40 - and of those fatalities most occurred in a 3 month period.
 
OK, so that MD was 1 out of well over 11 Million cases. And that is only IF (and that is a very big IF) the vaccination caused his demise. Sad and extremely unlikely. With those odds, I would not hesitate to take the shot - already did #1, - and would highly recommend it to others.

BTW, your odds of dying in a car crash are considerably more than dying from ITP or another complication from the vaccine.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Mortality is highly correlated simply with age. Interestingly, the 1918 pandemic was more equal among all age groups and had very high fatality rate for the youth. IIRC - more than half of the fatalities in 1918 were for people under 35 or 40 - and of those fatalities most occurred in a 3 month period.

It is true that mortality is correlated with age and co-morbidity (other serious medical conditions). However there have been enough young and apparently healthy individuals who have died from the COVID 19 that I would get a vaccination (when available) even if under age 30. The other reason for vaccination at younger ages is to prevent the spread of the virus. There are a higher percent of persons who are infected, don't have any disease symptoms, yet are spreaders. The spread of the virus must be stopped to the degree possible. Vaccination of all age groups will help to corral the spread.

The quote is certainly all true. Comparison to the Flu of 1918/19 is somewhat problematic. Many in this epidemic died from bacterial pneumonia and other complications. Today these people would be saved with antibiotics, and other modalities of modern medicine. Another factor was that of communication and the spread of disease. Although telephones and telegraphs were in use, there was not the rapid communication and warning that we have today. Add in there was no known vaccination, it becomes a different issue. The 1918 flu came in 3 intense waves. Two of the waves were outside of the usual "flu" season.

Another factor was the prevalence of the disease in the military, both those being deployed to Europe, but also as troops came home. There appeared to be little attempt in separating or guaranteeing of the troops who certainly were a vector in the disease spread.

In many ways the COVID 19 is far more serious, despite modern medicine and public health techniques, the US death is hight. (If one considers % of cases and deaths it is skewed by the difference in population, being that in 1918 the US population was only 103 million vs 331 million persons.

An interesting article from 2006 from Armed Forces of Pathology about the 1918/19 Flu and possibility of a modern "new" virus causing a world wide pandemic with over 100,million deaths.
 
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