An elderly gentleman neighbour, 85, who we have been looking after, had not had an invite to get his jab locally so we rang a London hospital which has a vaccination centre and made an appointment...So we all had a train ride to London, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and all got our first jab.
Very nice of you to look after this man...and congratulations that he--and you--got the vaccines. They are not in enough supply here at the moment to offer such courtesies. Every dose is allocated. Some places are scheduling for May...
Every one of our states and territories is getting different allocations, based on what--algorithms?--that nobody knows. Every state also has its own plan and very few have been a poster child for efficiency. In the prior winter,
over 175 million Americans received flu shots without so much as a blip on the medical system's radar screen. That's more than 50% of the population. Generally, no appointment needed, no mass inoculation sites, no crashing websites or scheduling phones that don't answer. Go to your doctor, an urgent care clinic or even many local pharmacies--even a Walmart for goodness sake--and get a flu shot. This is one massive failure so far. My father--aged 98--went to a Veteran's Administration clinic out of his state, because the state he lives isn't following our CDC protocols for vaccination. Apparently they think they know better; they said "there's nothing wrong with your father, he's got no underlying health conditions, and he's not in a nursing home. Back of the line!" At least the VA gave him dose one today.
My daughter jokes that perhaps Chick-Fil-A or Disney should manage it, firms well used to queue management and serving mass numbers in minimal time.
(for my non-USA friends, Chick-Fil-A is a chicken fast food restaurant that can handle massive volumes with minimal waiting...)
