As Tevye stated in “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Send us the cure. We have the disease already!” Waiting for a turn at being vaccinated can be as stressful as the past 10 months.
Two companies Pfizer and Moderna, have a vaccine. Johnson and Johnston is close to approval. So why is the vaccine so hard to get ?
Part of the problem is the extremely low temperature that the Pfizer doses must be kept at for storage. Then the short shelf life after thawing. But many people believe that the lack of a plan to distribute and the volunteer manpower to administer the shot is to blame. I will cite my own experience trying to sign up for a time to receive a vaccine .
Last Friday, Yhe State of Michigan announced that the next level of vaccination would start for seniors 65 years and older. In my part of the state, the local hospital care groups would be in charge of signing up and administering the vaccine. After an hour on Friday evening, the website crashed and could not sign up any more people. My care provider decided to have each applicant complete a survey on criteria for the vaccine. I made out my survey and waited for an confirmation email. Instead, I received two additional emails to complete a survey. Now there is no survey and no other information on My health chart.
I have talked with other people, who after the survey were directed to a website to sign up for a vaccination time. Several other friends were frustrated and called the county health dept. and have vaccination dates in February. On the other side of the state, Detroit is opening drive through vaccination centers that will operate 24/ 7 as long at the vaccine is available.
There is no consistent rule for distribution from state to state and within a state.
Some of the blame can be laid at the feet of the current administration. When Pfizer offered to sell additional vaccines to our country, they were turned down. Pfizer sold the promised vaccines to other countries. They and other companies are scrambling to produce the needed doses.
Ironically, the vaccine for Pfizer is produced and shipped less than 70 miles away in my state.
I hope that the lack of information and transparency will be addressed after the inauguration. The number of citizens affected with the virus and the number of hospitalizations and deaths continue to spike.
Even if all the available vaccine could get into people’s arms in the next two months, we would not see a decrease of the virus until early summer.
So I do what I have done for months, stay home, wear a mask and wait my turn to be vaccinated. May you do the same.
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Vaccination
Very slow
At a standstill
Cities set up drive throughs
Citing long lines
Individuals line up
Never has there been such disarray
All wait patiently in the cue.
Testing the limits
Only hoping the doses are still viable
No one knows for sure
Carol Farnsworth Copyright 1/14/21
traveling up and down the blind highway 