If Katelyn says “here’s a link” I’m going to watch. This was an exceptional presentation by General Perna. The right person, in the right place, at the right time during a crisis. Very refreshing to watch if you are tired of listening to the endless blather from politicians. His take on leadership, and the collection and use of actionable data, is truly inspiring.
No doubt to say the logistics of the 2021 roll out were gargantuan would be an understatement.
As for today, as you put it, "This is due to a massive shift: vaccines are now commercialized." This reminds me of your other recent post about being careful comparing the US to other countries and how the CDC (or as it has come to be known in my social circles, Center for Disease Creation) made vastly different recommendations than the rest of the modernized world. In that post, you indicated it was because in every measurable metric the US ranks dead last in terms of quality and outcome of healthcare. The US is also the only one that relies of insurance for funding (more on this in a second) in a healthcare for profit industry. So, it is not surprising that this for-profit care industry would do an equally spectacular job with a mass vaccine roll out. Color me shocked, I tell you. Prior to 2020, the political right wing used to crow about how the US had the best healthcare in the world. Thankfully they've gone silent on that one.
As far as insurance, I have long said that it is the wrong financial vehicle for healthcare, especially routine healthcare. Using oil changes as an analogy, which can be considered a form of routine health maintenance for your vehicle, if we were to fund oil changes like we fund healthcare, you would buy a policy with a $100 per month premium to get an oil change every three months. The mechanic would bill the insurance company $500, and they would negotiate it down behind the scenes to $50. While this may sound absurd, if you look at how much most insured people are paying, either directly or through their employer (compensation not seen in their take home) versus how much the care they receive costs ... the parallels should be apparent.
Be fair: at least a few already rich people, who can access the best healthcare, get even richer on healthcare stocks, buybacks, and the like. You have to balance third-world health outcomes against that unimpeachable societal good.
The comparison is a great example of the "project management trilemma". When vaccines were being run by the government, the scope and schedule were OK, but the cost was staggering. Now that it's being run by ruthless capitalists, the cost and schedule are good, but it's "underscoped"
I live in North Carolina. The state maintains a healthcare program for State employees and teachers. It is a self-insured program that is currently managed by BCBS, though that is changing next year, I think it is. A couple of years ago, the State Treasurer, Dale Folwell, offered to pay the major providers, including their flagship UNC Hospitals, 210% of the Medicare rates for covered items and was hotly refused. He then asked BCBS for a list of all of the covered procedures and received hundreds of pages of, "the price for X is ... Redacted". I have to wonder if this is part of why they're no longer going to be administering the plan. However, why the secrecy? Perhaps it's because we have parties working in secret collusion to set pricing that is hidden from the consumer, who can't even get any price information until after the product has been consumed? This fits the textbook definition of racketeering.
"They have to charge someone the price they say they charge. And those someones are under-insured and uninsured people like me."
Yep. I remember chatting with a guy, some twenty or so years ago, who owned a small ambulance company. He basically said what you said. And because the insurers demand a discount as part of the deal for being in-network, the list price ends up getting inflated. That makes it even worse for the under-insured and uninsured.
The vaccination rate in 2021 was mediocre. The booster uptake in 2022 was abysmal.
For profit companies order exactly as much vaccine as they think they'll be able to flip, and not a microgram more. And if they see a crummy uptake now, because people are trying to "optimize" their boosters for a winter surge - they'll tighten up even more, because that's how these companies work, because they don't give a shit about people who write blogs on substack, just about making bank.
Thank you, Dr. Jetelina. Not only a mess but a sad and frightening mess. And what about Novovax? I can't take the mRNAs. Novovax given in Europe and Canada, I believe. Must I drive from New York to Montreal to get it? (I don't know that I even could get it.) Thanks for all the info you provide.
Novavax is available in the usa. How to find it near you? Google pharmacies and see what they offer. Check out clinics and see what they offer. Sadly- there isn’t a list that says what facility has what vaccine, nor the cost!
Ha! How timely to receive this post now. Just got off the phone with a local Walgreens pharmacy. I had an appt yesterday morning, but they sent me away because they couldn't get through to Medicare to process the claim. Medicare was 'down' (their words). Called yesterday afternoon and again this morning, the pharmacy still cannot get through to Medicare to start my claim. They blame Medicare and the fact that thousands are trying to process claims all at once but I have my doubts. Perhaps this particular pharmacy's link with Medicare has gone down and they are so swamped they have no time to troubleshoot. Or, perhaps it's true that tens of thousands of Medicare recipients across the country are unable to get their COVID vaccinations this week because Medicare is 'down'. This is the first time I've attempted to get my COVID shot from a national chain pharmacy - in the past I have used local pharmacies, but they have not received a supply yet. What a mess.
On a completely different note, thank you so much Dr. Jetelina for all that you do to keep us informed and safe.
It seems appropriate to circle back and update my original post. This afternoon I was able to get the COVID vaccine - the pharmacy was able to access Medicare, run the claim, and I was set.
I'm sorry you had such difficulty. I made my appointment at my local Walgreens and had no trouble last Wednesday. I'm on a Medicare Advantage plan. I wonder what the difference is. I live outside Reno, NV, so it's not like it's a major metropolis.
Thanks for your reply, William. I believe that may be part of the answer. With Medicare Advantage, the insurance company is billed directly. With traditional Medicare and a Supplement, Medicare is billed directly first, followed by billing to the insurance company. So, with an Advantage plan, your pharmacy would not have needed to pass a claim to Medicare.
Thanks for sharing this speech by Gen Perna. I volunteered with our local health department to administer vaccines and they system was quite amazing. Not perfect, sometimes frustrating, but overall so very efficient.
I volunteered too, in VA. I agree that our system ran very smoothly. People were in and out in a short period of time. If we had too many vaccines mixed at the end of the day, they would call people to come in, so they weren’t wasted.
Feeling this so hard right now! Also good luck finding kids covid vax-- there is ONE pharmacy in our area that has them, but they are requiring a Rx from our doctor to give the covid vax to kids. And the doctor has no idea what they are talking about-- OMG- it shouldn't be this hard and I want my kids to get it-- imagine someone who is on the fence about getting it themselves or getting it for their kids! There should not be this many hurdles- it means reduced vax uptake! Sigh...
Interesting, I wonder how much access varies regionally? The friends/family who I know got it, were able to somewhat easily. Typically a telehealth appt (or urgent care), then an rx sent to the pharmacy, and the pharmacies had it. Not as easy as I think it should be, but doable. It's dumb that it isn't more accessible in all areas.
Your headline - "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but wasn't during the pandemic” - suggests that we are no longer in a pandemic. Aren’t we still in one?
Thanks for this comment. We are still in a pandemic. The headline is inaccurate. A more appropriate headline would be "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but it wasn't during Operation Warp Speed" or "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but here's how it can be improved."
Yes, we are still in a pandemic that likely will continue indefinitely.
"A WHO-sponsored international body, tasked with preparing an international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response has defined a pandemic as
"the global spread of a pathogen or variant that infects human populations with limited or no immunity through sustained and high transmissibility from person to person, overwhelming health systems with severe morbidity and high mortality, and causing social and economic disruptions, all of which require effective national and global collaboration and coordination for its control""
Cited from: "Zero draft of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response ("WHO CA+")" (PDF). World Health Organization – Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
In addition to the rollout being a mess, with all due respect to the FDA, why do they delay approval of Novavax? Why did they restrict who could receive it last time?
People want an alternative to mRNA. I feel like a sitting duck, waiting.
I don’t know if this is still the case, but the last time I watched one of the FDA meetings, they were all still working from home, comfy cozy in their Zoom cocoons, seemingly oblivious to the challenges of regular folk who must show up in person in order to earn a paycheck.
Wow, thank you so much for posting this. I was at the receiving end of the vaccine and supplies at the local level, working with the state. We had to plan and select the locations where the distributions would go, taking into consideration the capacities of those locations to manage and deliver to patients' arms the different types of vaccine (diluting vaccine, cold storage capacity, utilizing multidose vials with minimal waste of vaccine, etc). We also had to consider epidemiology of the disease in our local area guiding us to prioritize the populations that were most affected and at risk. It was stressful and frustrating, but now I can appreciate just how bad it could have been had it not been rolled out so well at the top level.
I was excited to watch this presentation and then read your statement of it being "apolitical" - which I'd like to remind everyone - there's no such thing as "apoliticism" on any topic, especially not public health. I also wondered why it was mentioned - is this something we value now? Sanitized, neutral, "no sides" public health? I personally don't, because the minute that you try to "dial down the politics," you end up taking a neutral position - like passively watching the public health emergency end, sayings "it's really no big deal, it's fine" as millions are kicked off Medicaid in 2023, masks are pulled out of healthcare, and now we have the commercialization of healthcare for the COVID boosters. It's all politics. As public health professionals I think it's important to figure out where we stand in the midst of it.
I watched, and in the first few minutes the speaker shared his extensive military background and experiences. That's political. Sitting in Somalia as a captain, and relying on young male bravado at getting information that's "close enough" for the general is political. I respect his accomplishments, and definitely think he was a good fit for the task of the vaccine rollout, but to say this talk is "apolitical" is like saying public health is apolitical. It's not. Every side we take is a political one, even passive neutrality.
I have to say, re the rollout in 2021, that how well it worked seemed to depend on a number of factors, including where you lived. We were living in the Hudson Valley, and the roll-out where we were was a massive pig’s breakfast. Older people were consigned to sitting hunched over computers in the middle of the night trying to grab available slots, mostly to no avail. A group of us sent out emails soon as we spotted places with open slots, but it was like a pyramid scheme, with only the first few netting an appointment. Our two-person household ended up logging 400 miles back and forth to the nearest open mass vax site to get our primary and first booster shots. We had a 90 year old friend on the east end of Long Island, where the problem was similar; she only ended up finding an open slot through a weird serendipity--a friend who learned a local fire station, catering only to public employees, had a couple vacant slots. It was an absolute, ongoing nightmare that lasted for weeks. What ended up saving the day for many folks in our area in the Hudson Valley was an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, NY, the Village Apothecary. Smoller and his staff are continuing to do an excellent job, sending everyone on their list updates of availability and what to expect.
Thank you for making this available! Love when he said (talking about critical elements of successful rollout) "Everybody checked their egos at the door."
I can't disagree more about it's a mess now, but wasn't during the pandemic. By the time you younger folk needed your vaccinations, it was organized. But when we seniors tried to get vaccines early when it was our time, there weren't even appts to be cancelled. Sites would say they are getting in vaccine next week and will put up appts on, say , Tues. You go to their site- and either the appts weren't up yet, or they already all taken. Then we got clever and would stay up till after midnight trying to snag an appointment. Eventually we'd fine one within a hundred mile radius of home, fill out the form, only to find by the end of the lengthy process of filling out the form, that the spot was now already taken, and there were no other slot left. It was awful, frightening and stressful. I say we, because every senior I knew was going through this. It was our only topic of conversation- leads on where there might be a vaccination available. You younger guys missed this. It was weeks of this., And remember, there were trucks acting as morgues then. No, I'll take this roll out any day. At least every day there are appts available. And many more places with appts.
I very much appreciate and relate to this perspective. And I was lucky enough to get the vaccine very early (1/24/21 for Pfizer #1, 2/14/21 for Pfizer #2).
This is a VERY good point, which I had forgotten--younger people weren’t subject to the problems we older folks faced in 2021. What you describe, as I’ve noted in my own comment earlier, was 💯💯my experience and that of every senior I knew in my area. While there are certainly glitches now where I am locally, vaccines are at least available--nothing like what we experienced back then. All of us also worked hard to get the attention of every public official at every level, and all of them passed the buck. It was a nightmare, and it went on for weeks or more.
Right now I’m waiting in an understaffed Walgreens. There’s a line half the length of the store, and traffic backed up outside. People masked and unmasked are coughing sneezing and hacking, and I’m unsure how safe it is for me or anyone to stay and wait. I’ve been here for 45 minutes, and it could be at least that long til my name is called. I’m “high risk”. This is the privatization of Covid 19.
Right! I’m nearly 70 and I’m in the group we’re all supposed to take special care of.
But this kind of experience — I had to remind them I was still waiting after 75 minutes — is going to discourage a lot of people from getting boosted. One of the reasons Walgreens is sooo slow is that they now have to ask for and check everyone’s insurance. On top of being understaffed.
I got one of my kid's vaccines at Walgreens during the early part of the pandemic (because they had the first available appointment), and never again for precisely these reasons. We have since gotten all of our family's vaccines at CVS. Not a huge fan of CVS either, really depends on the particular pharamicist at each location, but Walgreens is a hot mess in comparison.
Unbridled capitalism is a many-splendored thing. Efficiency and operational optimization just automatically emerge from the unregulated marketplace. Like magic.
If Katelyn says “here’s a link” I’m going to watch. This was an exceptional presentation by General Perna. The right person, in the right place, at the right time during a crisis. Very refreshing to watch if you are tired of listening to the endless blather from politicians. His take on leadership, and the collection and use of actionable data, is truly inspiring.
No doubt to say the logistics of the 2021 roll out were gargantuan would be an understatement.
As for today, as you put it, "This is due to a massive shift: vaccines are now commercialized." This reminds me of your other recent post about being careful comparing the US to other countries and how the CDC (or as it has come to be known in my social circles, Center for Disease Creation) made vastly different recommendations than the rest of the modernized world. In that post, you indicated it was because in every measurable metric the US ranks dead last in terms of quality and outcome of healthcare. The US is also the only one that relies of insurance for funding (more on this in a second) in a healthcare for profit industry. So, it is not surprising that this for-profit care industry would do an equally spectacular job with a mass vaccine roll out. Color me shocked, I tell you. Prior to 2020, the political right wing used to crow about how the US had the best healthcare in the world. Thankfully they've gone silent on that one.
As far as insurance, I have long said that it is the wrong financial vehicle for healthcare, especially routine healthcare. Using oil changes as an analogy, which can be considered a form of routine health maintenance for your vehicle, if we were to fund oil changes like we fund healthcare, you would buy a policy with a $100 per month premium to get an oil change every three months. The mechanic would bill the insurance company $500, and they would negotiate it down behind the scenes to $50. While this may sound absurd, if you look at how much most insured people are paying, either directly or through their employer (compensation not seen in their take home) versus how much the care they receive costs ... the parallels should be apparent.
Be fair: at least a few already rich people, who can access the best healthcare, get even richer on healthcare stocks, buybacks, and the like. You have to balance third-world health outcomes against that unimpeachable societal good.
LOL. ;)
The comparison is a great example of the "project management trilemma". When vaccines were being run by the government, the scope and schedule were OK, but the cost was staggering. Now that it's being run by ruthless capitalists, the cost and schedule are good, but it's "underscoped"
Fast/cheap/good - pick two
I live in North Carolina. The state maintains a healthcare program for State employees and teachers. It is a self-insured program that is currently managed by BCBS, though that is changing next year, I think it is. A couple of years ago, the State Treasurer, Dale Folwell, offered to pay the major providers, including their flagship UNC Hospitals, 210% of the Medicare rates for covered items and was hotly refused. He then asked BCBS for a list of all of the covered procedures and received hundreds of pages of, "the price for X is ... Redacted". I have to wonder if this is part of why they're no longer going to be administering the plan. However, why the secrecy? Perhaps it's because we have parties working in secret collusion to set pricing that is hidden from the consumer, who can't even get any price information until after the product has been consumed? This fits the textbook definition of racketeering.
"They have to charge someone the price they say they charge. And those someones are under-insured and uninsured people like me."
Yep. I remember chatting with a guy, some twenty or so years ago, who owned a small ambulance company. He basically said what you said. And because the insurers demand a discount as part of the deal for being in-network, the list price ends up getting inflated. That makes it even worse for the under-insured and uninsured.
We have met the enemy and he is us.
The vaccination rate in 2021 was mediocre. The booster uptake in 2022 was abysmal.
For profit companies order exactly as much vaccine as they think they'll be able to flip, and not a microgram more. And if they see a crummy uptake now, because people are trying to "optimize" their boosters for a winter surge - they'll tighten up even more, because that's how these companies work, because they don't give a shit about people who write blogs on substack, just about making bank.
Thank you, Dr. Jetelina. Not only a mess but a sad and frightening mess. And what about Novovax? I can't take the mRNAs. Novovax given in Europe and Canada, I believe. Must I drive from New York to Montreal to get it? (I don't know that I even could get it.) Thanks for all the info you provide.
Novavax is available in the usa. How to find it near you? Google pharmacies and see what they offer. Check out clinics and see what they offer. Sadly- there isn’t a list that says what facility has what vaccine, nor the cost!
The USA healthcare has 34 BILLIONaires. 🤦🏾♀️
Ha! How timely to receive this post now. Just got off the phone with a local Walgreens pharmacy. I had an appt yesterday morning, but they sent me away because they couldn't get through to Medicare to process the claim. Medicare was 'down' (their words). Called yesterday afternoon and again this morning, the pharmacy still cannot get through to Medicare to start my claim. They blame Medicare and the fact that thousands are trying to process claims all at once but I have my doubts. Perhaps this particular pharmacy's link with Medicare has gone down and they are so swamped they have no time to troubleshoot. Or, perhaps it's true that tens of thousands of Medicare recipients across the country are unable to get their COVID vaccinations this week because Medicare is 'down'. This is the first time I've attempted to get my COVID shot from a national chain pharmacy - in the past I have used local pharmacies, but they have not received a supply yet. What a mess.
On a completely different note, thank you so much Dr. Jetelina for all that you do to keep us informed and safe.
It seems appropriate to circle back and update my original post. This afternoon I was able to get the COVID vaccine - the pharmacy was able to access Medicare, run the claim, and I was set.
I'm sorry you had such difficulty. I made my appointment at my local Walgreens and had no trouble last Wednesday. I'm on a Medicare Advantage plan. I wonder what the difference is. I live outside Reno, NV, so it's not like it's a major metropolis.
Thanks for your reply, William. I believe that may be part of the answer. With Medicare Advantage, the insurance company is billed directly. With traditional Medicare and a Supplement, Medicare is billed directly first, followed by billing to the insurance company. So, with an Advantage plan, your pharmacy would not have needed to pass a claim to Medicare.
Ah, That explains it. I knew it wasn't my movie star good looks.
Yes, my first appointment was cancelled because they did not have the correct billing code for my insurance.
Thanks for sharing this speech by Gen Perna. I volunteered with our local health department to administer vaccines and they system was quite amazing. Not perfect, sometimes frustrating, but overall so very efficient.
I volunteered too, in VA. I agree that our system ran very smoothly. People were in and out in a short period of time. If we had too many vaccines mixed at the end of the day, they would call people to come in, so they weren’t wasted.
Feeling this so hard right now! Also good luck finding kids covid vax-- there is ONE pharmacy in our area that has them, but they are requiring a Rx from our doctor to give the covid vax to kids. And the doctor has no idea what they are talking about-- OMG- it shouldn't be this hard and I want my kids to get it-- imagine someone who is on the fence about getting it themselves or getting it for their kids! There should not be this many hurdles- it means reduced vax uptake! Sigh...
It’s also nearly impossible to get Paxlovid.
Interesting, I wonder how much access varies regionally? The friends/family who I know got it, were able to somewhat easily. Typically a telehealth appt (or urgent care), then an rx sent to the pharmacy, and the pharmacies had it. Not as easy as I think it should be, but doable. It's dumb that it isn't more accessible in all areas.
I am lucky then, I guess. My PCP phoned in a Paxlovid prescription Wednesday and we picked it up at the local CVS on yesterday.
Check your local CVS MinuteClinic.
What?! That's absurd 🤦🏼♀️. I'm sorry.
Your headline - "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but wasn't during the pandemic” - suggests that we are no longer in a pandemic. Aren’t we still in one?
Thanks for this comment. We are still in a pandemic. The headline is inaccurate. A more appropriate headline would be "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but it wasn't during Operation Warp Speed" or "Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but here's how it can be improved."
Yes, we are still in a pandemic that likely will continue indefinitely.
"A WHO-sponsored international body, tasked with preparing an international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response has defined a pandemic as
"the global spread of a pathogen or variant that infects human populations with limited or no immunity through sustained and high transmissibility from person to person, overwhelming health systems with severe morbidity and high mortality, and causing social and economic disruptions, all of which require effective national and global collaboration and coordination for its control""
Cited from: "Zero draft of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response ("WHO CA+")" (PDF). World Health Organization – Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
We are indeed still in it.
In addition to the rollout being a mess, with all due respect to the FDA, why do they delay approval of Novavax? Why did they restrict who could receive it last time?
People want an alternative to mRNA. I feel like a sitting duck, waiting.
A friend of mine has started calling the FDA the Federal Death Administration.
I don’t know if this is still the case, but the last time I watched one of the FDA meetings, they were all still working from home, comfy cozy in their Zoom cocoons, seemingly oblivious to the challenges of regular folk who must show up in person in order to earn a paycheck.
Wow, thank you so much for posting this. I was at the receiving end of the vaccine and supplies at the local level, working with the state. We had to plan and select the locations where the distributions would go, taking into consideration the capacities of those locations to manage and deliver to patients' arms the different types of vaccine (diluting vaccine, cold storage capacity, utilizing multidose vials with minimal waste of vaccine, etc). We also had to consider epidemiology of the disease in our local area guiding us to prioritize the populations that were most affected and at risk. It was stressful and frustrating, but now I can appreciate just how bad it could have been had it not been rolled out so well at the top level.
I was excited to watch this presentation and then read your statement of it being "apolitical" - which I'd like to remind everyone - there's no such thing as "apoliticism" on any topic, especially not public health. I also wondered why it was mentioned - is this something we value now? Sanitized, neutral, "no sides" public health? I personally don't, because the minute that you try to "dial down the politics," you end up taking a neutral position - like passively watching the public health emergency end, sayings "it's really no big deal, it's fine" as millions are kicked off Medicaid in 2023, masks are pulled out of healthcare, and now we have the commercialization of healthcare for the COVID boosters. It's all politics. As public health professionals I think it's important to figure out where we stand in the midst of it.
I watched, and in the first few minutes the speaker shared his extensive military background and experiences. That's political. Sitting in Somalia as a captain, and relying on young male bravado at getting information that's "close enough" for the general is political. I respect his accomplishments, and definitely think he was a good fit for the task of the vaccine rollout, but to say this talk is "apolitical" is like saying public health is apolitical. It's not. Every side we take is a political one, even passive neutrality.
The presentation's sponsor, Palantir, is also not an apolitical organization. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/16/21323458/palantir-ipo-hhs-protect-peter-thiel-cia-intelligence
I have to say, re the rollout in 2021, that how well it worked seemed to depend on a number of factors, including where you lived. We were living in the Hudson Valley, and the roll-out where we were was a massive pig’s breakfast. Older people were consigned to sitting hunched over computers in the middle of the night trying to grab available slots, mostly to no avail. A group of us sent out emails soon as we spotted places with open slots, but it was like a pyramid scheme, with only the first few netting an appointment. Our two-person household ended up logging 400 miles back and forth to the nearest open mass vax site to get our primary and first booster shots. We had a 90 year old friend on the east end of Long Island, where the problem was similar; she only ended up finding an open slot through a weird serendipity--a friend who learned a local fire station, catering only to public employees, had a couple vacant slots. It was an absolute, ongoing nightmare that lasted for weeks. What ended up saving the day for many folks in our area in the Hudson Valley was an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, NY, the Village Apothecary. Smoller and his staff are continuing to do an excellent job, sending everyone on their list updates of availability and what to expect.
Had a similar experience in 2021. May be NY state problem.
I had that thought as well.
Thank you for making this available! Love when he said (talking about critical elements of successful rollout) "Everybody checked their egos at the door."
I can't disagree more about it's a mess now, but wasn't during the pandemic. By the time you younger folk needed your vaccinations, it was organized. But when we seniors tried to get vaccines early when it was our time, there weren't even appts to be cancelled. Sites would say they are getting in vaccine next week and will put up appts on, say , Tues. You go to their site- and either the appts weren't up yet, or they already all taken. Then we got clever and would stay up till after midnight trying to snag an appointment. Eventually we'd fine one within a hundred mile radius of home, fill out the form, only to find by the end of the lengthy process of filling out the form, that the spot was now already taken, and there were no other slot left. It was awful, frightening and stressful. I say we, because every senior I knew was going through this. It was our only topic of conversation- leads on where there might be a vaccination available. You younger guys missed this. It was weeks of this., And remember, there were trucks acting as morgues then. No, I'll take this roll out any day. At least every day there are appts available. And many more places with appts.
I very much appreciate and relate to this perspective. And I was lucky enough to get the vaccine very early (1/24/21 for Pfizer #1, 2/14/21 for Pfizer #2).
This is a VERY good point, which I had forgotten--younger people weren’t subject to the problems we older folks faced in 2021. What you describe, as I’ve noted in my own comment earlier, was 💯💯my experience and that of every senior I knew in my area. While there are certainly glitches now where I am locally, vaccines are at least available--nothing like what we experienced back then. All of us also worked hard to get the attention of every public official at every level, and all of them passed the buck. It was a nightmare, and it went on for weeks or more.
Right now I’m waiting in an understaffed Walgreens. There’s a line half the length of the store, and traffic backed up outside. People masked and unmasked are coughing sneezing and hacking, and I’m unsure how safe it is for me or anyone to stay and wait. I’ve been here for 45 minutes, and it could be at least that long til my name is called. I’m “high risk”. This is the privatization of Covid 19.
It’s insane that in order to get a Covid booster, vulnerable people must wait in the same line as contagious people waiting to pick up their Paxlovid.
Right! I’m nearly 70 and I’m in the group we’re all supposed to take special care of.
But this kind of experience — I had to remind them I was still waiting after 75 minutes — is going to discourage a lot of people from getting boosted. One of the reasons Walgreens is sooo slow is that they now have to ask for and check everyone’s insurance. On top of being understaffed.
I got one of my kid's vaccines at Walgreens during the early part of the pandemic (because they had the first available appointment), and never again for precisely these reasons. We have since gotten all of our family's vaccines at CVS. Not a huge fan of CVS either, really depends on the particular pharamicist at each location, but Walgreens is a hot mess in comparison.
And now the drive thru is closing for lunch!
Unbridled capitalism is a many-splendored thing. Efficiency and operational optimization just automatically emerge from the unregulated marketplace. Like magic.