Vaccine Availability in NYS

[sheepherder]

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[mrerick]

Health centers in our state showed no appointments for a couple weeks until I figured out that they were posting availability each morning based on expected and received vaccine supplies. I kept looking first thing in the morning and after a few days, dozens of appointment slots appeared.
Your state will administrate this differently, but it's worth checking back repeatedly.
Mine came through a regional medical center, and I accessed the appointment through their online EPIC electronic health records system application.

[Edward Tinker]

Here in Washington state, it was really screwy - state stated 75+, then 65+ - VA on the same day, was 75, 65 and 55 in different VA clinics. I reached out a couple of weeks ago and found that my email and phone were wrong, let alone the correct VA I should go to. Got it straightened out after 3 calls, then got an appt for a Johnson shot, got it 2 weeks ago saturday - get those shots... Even if you think they don't do much...

[Norme]

Here's what life is like on the other side of the syringe:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/n...gtype=Homepage

[MikeP]

I'm moving around quite a bit right now and have a hard time scheduling something. Nobody I have contacted, including the VA, will give you one and let you get another someplace else.

[spacecoast]

I plan on getting my shots right after my first flu shot.

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

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Rich, unless I'm mistaken,the page you linked lists NYS clinics. Last month, pharmacies began to vaccinate us geezers 60+. It's down to 30+ now (or 16+ if in a risk group) I was able to make an appointment at the CVS in Watkins Glen, which is about equidistant to Ithaca from me. 2nd jab was accomplished this Monday, so I'll be able to hug my grandson on his birthday in a little over two weeks.

Wal-Mart, Kinney, Rite-Aid, and many independents have pages you can watch and/or sign up for the appointment waiting list. Today, CVS seems to be mostly booked--but there are some outlets with availabilities--Ithaca is one, so is Greece. https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid-19-vaccine

This is my county's page. Scroll down for links to a bunch of pharmacies and chains to check for appointment or waiting lists. https://www.schuylercounty.us/civicalerts.aspx?aid=469

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

Rich, unless I'm mistaken,the page you linked lists NYS clinics.

I'm on both NYS DOH and Niagara County DOH lists. Both list No Appointments Available whenever I check. There is no announcements of availability, the sites just post a URL and shut it down when the vaccine allotment is met. I've actually gotten through to the sites before they could shut them down but after the allotment had been met. (Pic below).

As of this morning, most all eastern NYS sites had availability (NY City especially) but not western NYS.

My county DOH has assigned me to either Tops Supermarket or Wegmans pharmacy. I don't get a choice of others. NYS DOH has a bunch of sites, closest is in Buffalo but still no availability.

If a site gets in 1,000 doses, they post it on the site and the list is filled in less than 10 minutes (according to the local paper).

Lately, the PFizer vaccine seems to be predominant. Some Jannsen [J&J] has been distributed by NYS DOH but in lots of less than 500.

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[tomaustin]

an old-fashioned calf scramble.................

[sheepherder]

I am by nature a pessimist. (That means I hope for the best but prepare for the worst). The nearest facility that most often appears to have vaccine available is in Rochester [Henrietta], which is about an hour and a half drive away from me. That's in good weather, with no road construction. I do not know what the window of opportunity is for the vaccination appointments but I expect that if I chose this facility I would have to leave at least an hour early. It's listed as a PFizer vaccine.

One of my lady friends (the only one, actually ) has advised me to wait for the Janssen/J&J vaccine, so I checked the CDC site on that vaccine option -

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...s/janssen.html

Only 66% effective in clinical trials??? I'll make sure I get the Moderna or PFizer vaccines...whenever they become available...

[tomaustin]

I get my second Moderna on 4-9...then wait patiently for another 3 weeks for the curing period, as one of my friends called it....then I should be good to go, with continued precautions from the building crowds at the spring festivals and picnics......

[Kiwi]

Do you get a sample 'blue pill' with the Pfizer vaccine?

[spangy]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I am by nature a pessimist. (That means I hope for the best but prepare for the worst)

Only 66% effective in clinical trials??? I'll make sure I get the Moderna or PFizer vaccines...whenever they become available...

Pessimism
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general.

Your philosophy is not that of a pessimist ... your philosophy is much like my own which I call pessimistic optimism ... prepare for the worst so as to be ready should that occur but believe that it won't so as not to be a 'downer'. Works for me.

As to 'efficacy' ... those numbers are completly misleading and really have nothing to do with choosing the best vaccine. Remember Trillions of dollars are at stake as big pharma competes for the billions of doses needed ... the LIE Olympics have begun.

I urge you to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3odScka55A
before making such an important decision.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by spangy

I urge you to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3odScka55A
before making such an important decision.

I just watched it. Very compelling. Thanks for the learning experience!

The video says that they are all effective. Any of them should do. I can just get whatever is available. Whenever it's available.

It's also possible that I've already had the virus. About this time last year, I was sicker than a dog for 8 days. But the CDC had only released three symptoms then: Fever, cough, and shortness of breath, I had none of those. Now, a year later, they have a longer list of symptoms...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019.../symptoms.html

I had more than half of these symptoms, plus a few more. Just not the big 3.

I'll do as the video suggests and take whatever is available.

[Norme]

Hi Rich;
It sounds like you live in a lightly populated part of the country, if you steer clear of discos and karaoke bars you should be OK.
Norm

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Norme

Hi Rich;
It sounds like you live in a lightly populated part of the country, if you steer clear of discos and karaoke bars you should be OK.
Norm

Norm, I wouldn't know where to find a bar any more. All my old haunts closed up even before the pandemic. And I don't dance, can't sing, look like a sno-cone left out in the sun, and am slowly losing my cognitive powers, memory, and what little personality I had....

The only course left open to me...is politics! Biden is 78; there's no way he'll last two terms...There should be an opening somewhere along the line...

[spangy]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

It's also possible that I've already had the virus. About this time last year, I was sicker than a dog for 8 days.

Same here ... last Feb. 2020 a friend and I had become very ill with what we thought was the 'flu'.
We both thought we were going to die it was that bad .... took months to get back to 100%.

My friend got tested for the virus about 2 months ago even though he wasn't sick. Lo and behold he had the covid antibodies meaning he had been exposed at some time. I haven't been tested but i'm pretty sure I'd show the same.

[gunbugs]

Originally Posted by spangy

Same here ... last Feb. a friend and I had become very ill with the 'flu'.
We both thought we were going to die it was that bad .... took months to get back to 100%.

My friend got tested for the virus about 2 months ago even though he wasn't sick. Lo and behold he had the covid antibodies meaning he had been exposed at some time. I haven't been tested but i'm pretty sure I'd show the same.

The medical experts have said from the beginning of this, that approximately 50% of the people who contract the virus will be asymptomatic, or show no symptoms. Pretty easy for it to spread if you don't know you have it, and continue your life as normal, even with a mask. Especially if you are using just a cheap fabric mask, which an epidemiologist said was "like trying to catch mosquitoes with a chain link fence". Wear an N95, they actually work.

[sheepherder]

Well, you guys talked me into it. I started watching the Final Four basketball playoffs and thought about what youse guyz said. I checked the NYS DOH site again and saw there was availability at UB South Campus in Buffalo (pic below). Not all that far, 26 miles. So, I filled out the usual blurb and clicked the link and...No Appointments Available!!! ARGH!!! Update the web site, buttheads!!!

Second nearest was the Dome Arena. 87 miles away. I go there often, that's where our ESACA club holds its gun shows. So I hit their site: Lots of appointments available! One on Saturday, six on Tuesday, and more on succeeding days. I figure the Saturday slot is already filled but I'll shoot for one of the Tuesday's. But at half time, I check again, and Saturday is still available. So I select that and start filling out dozens of pages of silly questions. Finally I hit the submit button and get the confirmation screen. Yay!

So I went today. Left two hours early, stopped at my FCU on the way and then just sat in the parking lot waiting. Place was jumping. Cars in, cars out; steady streams bumper to bumper. My appt was later [2:15] and the action was winding down. I went in, the National Guard was manning a lot of the stations. Lots of people inside, slowly making their way through the various lines/stations. I had problems hearing the DOH people, they wore masks and over them plastic shields. A couple of them directed me where I needed to go. Finally got the shot, waited 15 minutes, and was done. 2nd shot three weeks from now, same time, place, and day.

Pfizer vaccine, painless, no ill effects.

There's talk in the paper about people who've had their shots being given more latitude about assembling. They want to have some kind of 'shot ID'. The NYS DOH people gave me a shot card, I guess that and five bucks should get me a coffee at Starbucks...

[Norme]

Hi Rich,
Congratulations! Don't you feel better already? Just a word of warning, both my wife and I felt no ill effects after our first shots but had a couple of bad days after our second ones.
Norm