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Is anyone else totally unclear about how exactly you are supposed to sign up or be placed in a waiting line for the vaccine? I'm not too concerned about myself

Is anyone else totally unclear about how exactly you are supposed to sign up or be placed in a waiting line for the vaccine? I'm not too concerned about myself, but say, my parents? Who is keeping the order of the queue or adding people to it in a way that you know when you're supposed to expect to get the vaccine? Is it just up to your personal doctor? A local hospital? The county? Who is keeping the list? Who do you ask to be added? Maybe I'm not a key/critical category person so I am not in the target group, but aside from the high level CDC guidance on who should get it, there seems to be a vast chasm of lack of information / authority connecting to the individual person to know how to take action to receive the vaccine. But again, maybe I'm missing something. It seems like a total chaos fest, muddling / random walking our way through the crisis. I guess the same theme as the entire handling of the situation in the US. God forbid we have some centralized authoritative list of who is who, and who does what, to know when someone should get the vaccine. But I guess when 0% are vaccinated, anything even half-assed is useful.

knrz 6y ago
There’s pilots you can sign up for, eg for SF https://wecanbeatcovid.org/ https://wecanbeatcovid.org/ Pre-screening questions and then they’ll call you if they’re interested. Roommate got a call within a week, but another three of us haven’t heard back. Probably depends somewhat on diversity. My guess is that your best shot is applying as soon as one of these studies open up registration. FIFO.
- birken 6y ago
  There is an extremely large difference between taking an approved (with emergency authorization) vaccine and joining a research study where you could be getting a different vaccine at earlier stages of approval or potentially a placebo. Joining a research study is great and helps push the science forward with other vaccines or whatever the researchers are studying, but it is not at all the same thing as scheduling when you are going to be getting an approved vaccine.
Exmoor 6y ago
At this point I believe it's just frontline health workers and elderly individuals in assisted living facilities. In those situations eligible people are being notified by their applicable institutions (employer, etc.) to schedule their first dose. I'm not sure what the process will look like once things get more broad (over 65, etc.), but I suspect it will be well publicized.
- denimnerd42 6y ago
  We will rapidly be past that group though as it's a very small percentage of the county. When each county is making their own rules it's going to get hectic quick.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    My PCP is at a large local hospital chain, and I recently got an e-mail from them saying that they would notify people as soon as they met the eligibility criteria. At least here, large multi-state hospital systems are expected to get shipments directly from the feds, and the state will be coordinating distribution to smaller providers. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine (See "How will vaccine distribution work?")
    - supernova87a 6y ago
      Thanks for that example info. In every state/county website I have looked at, it has somewhat comprehensive information for the distributors of the vaccine. But nothing for the consumers. It is all from the logistics point of view -- down to the distribution point of "hospitals are going to get it". After that, nothing. Total absence of information. Unanswered is the major (but simple) question of, "how do you apply/request to get the vaccine?" No answers on that front. For 330M people waiting to find out how. It's kind of an embarrassment. Edit: I acknowledge we're in an unprecedented time with a vaccine developed at unprecedented speed. But I have a feeling this is not going being managed well. We had months of warning that a vaccine was coming. And months more until the general population's turn is ready -- and I bet we still won't have good information.
denimnerd42 6y ago
Same questions here, Especially for those not well connected to a hospital or a part of a congregate living institution. How does an essential worker that works retail for example get their dose? Are the companies like Walmart going to coordinate it? How does a 70 year old that lives in their own home get theirs? Their gemeral provider?
yincrash 6y ago
It's up to each state. My state has their vaccination plan up on the state department of health website.
- supernova87a 6y ago
  A general plan is one thing (categories of people, in what order, etc). We all know roughly what that order is, I think. Where is the list of actual people and names being kept? How do you know when it will be your turn? Where do you sign up?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
goseeastarwar 6y ago
My close friend is a firefighter/paramedic and was told by his chief "to call this number as quickly as possible" to get on the early vaccination list. He did and was given the first dose last week. It became a race for those even most eligible. For the rest of us, it's a bit of crap shoot depending on where you live. Some counties in our state have created sites where you can enter in your information so that when you're eligible, you'll be notified. For those of us not in those counties, we're hoping similar systems, because the alternative is very messy and will almost certainly add to the body count.

knrz 6y ago

There’s pilots you can sign up for, eg for SF https://wecanbeatcovid.org/ https://wecanbeatcovid.org/ Pre-screening questions and then they’ll call you if they’re interested. Roommate got a call within a week, but another three of us haven’t heard back. Probably depends somewhat on diversity. My guess is that your best shot is applying as soon as one of these studies open up registration. FIFO.

birken 6y ago
There is an extremely large difference between taking an approved (with emergency authorization) vaccine and joining a research study where you could be getting a different vaccine at earlier stages of approval or potentially a placebo. Joining a research study is great and helps push the science forward with other vaccines or whatever the researchers are studying, but it is not at all the same thing as scheduling when you are going to be getting an approved vaccine.

Exmoor 6y ago

At this point I believe it's just frontline health workers and elderly individuals in assisted living facilities. In those situations eligible people are being notified by their applicable institutions (employer, etc.) to schedule their first dose. I'm not sure what the process will look like once things get more broad (over 65, etc.), but I suspect it will be well publicized.

denimnerd42 6y ago
We will rapidly be past that group though as it's a very small percentage of the county. When each county is making their own rules it's going to get hectic quick.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  My PCP is at a large local hospital chain, and I recently got an e-mail from them saying that they would notify people as soon as they met the eligibility criteria. At least here, large multi-state hospital systems are expected to get shipments directly from the feds, and the state will be coordinating distribution to smaller providers. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine (See "How will vaccine distribution work?")
  - supernova87a 6y ago
    Thanks for that example info. In every state/county website I have looked at, it has somewhat comprehensive information for the distributors of the vaccine. But nothing for the consumers. It is all from the logistics point of view -- down to the distribution point of "hospitals are going to get it". After that, nothing. Total absence of information. Unanswered is the major (but simple) question of, "how do you apply/request to get the vaccine?" No answers on that front. For 330M people waiting to find out how. It's kind of an embarrassment. Edit: I acknowledge we're in an unprecedented time with a vaccine developed at unprecedented speed. But I have a feeling this is not going being managed well. We had months of warning that a vaccine was coming. And months more until the general population's turn is ready -- and I bet we still won't have good information.

denimnerd42 6y ago

Same questions here, Especially for those not well connected to a hospital or a part of a congregate living institution. How does an essential worker that works retail for example get their dose? Are the companies like Walmart going to coordinate it? How does a 70 year old that lives in their own home get theirs? Their gemeral provider?

yincrash 6y ago

It's up to each state. My state has their vaccination plan up on the state department of health website.

supernova87a 6y ago
A general plan is one thing (categories of people, in what order, etc). We all know roughly what that order is, I think. Where is the list of actual people and names being kept? How do you know when it will be your turn? Where do you sign up?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

goseeastarwar 6y ago

My close friend is a firefighter/paramedic and was told by his chief "to call this number as quickly as possible" to get on the early vaccination list. He did and was given the first dose last week. It became a race for those even most eligible. For the rest of us, it's a bit of crap shoot depending on where you live. Some counties in our state have created sites where you can enter in your information so that when you're eligible, you'll be notified. For those of us not in those counties, we're hoping similar systems, because the alternative is very messy and will almost certainly add to the body count.