Update: After a morning of attempting to make appointments for my parents to get the vaccine--I succeeded. What helped?
- Calling and using the website--I just kept calling and trying different sites
- Using the Veterans Health for my dad worked--they had an appointment for him
- I tried a few remote locations for my mom, and was able to get an appointment.
Tips
- If you can't use a website, ask someone to help you out who knows how to navigate a website
- If you can't find someone to help you out, call the numbers available to get help from local senior citizen agencies
- Have your health insurance cards and a calendar handy
- Be persistant, the appointments keep opening up and there will be more vaccines available in the days ahead.
Initial thoughts/ experiences
Everyone is anxious to get the COVID-19 vaccination. People are tired of the tremendous limitations they've faced throughout the pandemic and they are also fearful that if they don't get the vaccine, they may get the virus and die.
This is especially true for the oldest citizens. For example, my parents are in their nineties. They live in their own home, but their access to technology and ability to wait in long lines in stadiums does not exist, so what are we to do?
Since December, I've been navigating their many possible paths to the vaccine without much luck. My father is a veteran, so that's an option--yet the way they contacted the veterans precluded him from the first batch of vaccines. He missed the call. Also, the information related to the vaccine roll-out for veterans in our area was not clear. We made several calls, got some information, yet none of the information resulted in access to the vaccine yet.
The state gave vaccines to all the elderly living in group settings, but that didn't include my parents. And today, the sign-up opened online for people in their age group, but I've been searching the sites for two hours and there is not one appointment available.
My dad has already called me about fifty times because he's so anxious to get the shot. I don't blame him as he's taken every precaution to stay healthy since the pandemic started, and fortunately he's been able to avoid the virus so far. Right now, the virus seems scarier than ever since it seems like we know a lot more people who are contracting the illness now than in the months before.
I know this is not an easy situation for anyone in the United States. President Trump ignored and lied about the pandemic leaving a huge mess and exasperating infection in every corner of the country. Rather than work for the welfare of the American people, he was busy spreading lies, looking for dirt on his opponent, trying to make a profit off of pandemic supplies, hoping for accolades, and planning and carrying out a deadly insurrection at The Capitol too. We were working with a 2/3 government at the federal level throughout the pandemic, and that's a big reason why we're behind and everyone is quite frustrated.
State leaders and human service workers in every area have been working around the clock to do the best possible with little to no federal assistance. That's been difficult.
So with regard to my parents, I'll make a few calls today and keep trying to sign them up on the website. I'll also coach them and myself to remain patient. We've done a good job since March of 2020--we can persist a bit longer. Onward.