Have you gotten a COVID vaccine?

[NotUrsula]

Persistance is good, but realize that in some places there is no "legal" choice other than to wait to be placed on the waitlist unless taking a last-minute surplus slot is workable for you.

Here in Missouri, you cannot jump your classification without lying, no matter how persistent you are. You must register with the state, and and until they send you an authorization code, no vaccine site in the state may make an advance appointment for you through the online centralized appointment calendar. The catch is that they don't send the code until they also have a local appointment time slot for you, so unless you need to be picky about when you go and turn down the one they offer, there isn't much point to constant vigilance in pursuit of an appointment. (If you hear that there is a surplus and contact a vendor directly you might get a last-minute slot, but any other route is skirting the eligibility rules.) The good news is that they are dropping the eligibility gateway as of April 18th, so after that you still have to register with the state first, but you will no longer have to wait to be issued an authorization code, and once you have it, you can take any appointment you can find.

I got a FB message forwarded to me today by a parent in a school group I belong to; she gave everyone a way to fool the next state over into granting access to out-of-state persons to make immediate appointments; that "trick" involved registering with a false address.

I got my shot last Thursday at a mass event, luckily one of the slots I was offered was late in the afternoon of the first day, and I chose it rather than the morning because afternoon is more convenient for me. Lucky choice. The folks who turned up that morning were missing their appointments because of the length of the line. The walking (!) line was a full mile long, in the rain, because of thousands of people who turned up with duplicate codes and swore that they were entitled to a shot. It turned out that what had happened in most cases was that someone who did not want to use the time slot offered had passed the code to another person, thinking it was transferrable, but it wasn't; it was only good for the person who originally received it, and if your photo ID didn't match, then no service. When I arrived after all of those people had been weeded out by cops with bullhorns the line was MUCH shorter, though they still administered thousands of shots that day. (Apparently some folks had actually purchased a code; the police said there were a few codes that showed up in hundreds of hands.)

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Persistance is good, but realize that in some places there is no "legal" choice other than to wait to be placed on the waitlist unless taking a last-minute surplus slot is workable for you.

Here in Missouri, you cannot jump your classification without lying, no matter how persistent you are. You must register with the state, and and until they send you an authorization code, no vaccine site in the state may make an advance appointment for you through the online centralized appointment calendar. The catch is that they don't send the code until they also have a local appointment time slot for you, so unless you need to be picky about when you go and turn down the one they offer, there isn't much point to constant vigilance in pursuit of an appointment. (If you hear that there is a surplus and contact a vendor directly you might get a last-minute slot, but any other route is skirting the eligibility rules.) The good news is that they are dropping the eligibility gateway as of April 18th, so after that you still have to register with the state first, but you will no longer have to wait to be issued an authorization code, and once you have it, you can take any appointment you can find.

I got a FB message forwarded to me today by a parent in a school group I belong to; she gave everyone a way to fool the next state over into granting access to out-of-state persons to make immediate appointments; that "trick" involved registering with a false address.

I got my shot last Thursday at a mass event, luckily one of the slots I was offered was late in the afternoon of the first day, and I chose it rather than the morning because afternoon is more convenient for me. Lucky choice. The folks who turned up that morning were missing their appointments because of the length of the line. The walking (!) line was a full mile long, in the rain, because of thousands of people who turned up with duplicate codes and swore that they were entitled to a shot. It turned out that what had happened in most cases was that someone who did not want to use the time slot offered had passed the code to another person, thinking it was transferrable, but it wasn't; it was only good for the person who originally received it, and if your photo ID didn't match, then no service. When I arrived after all of those people had been weeded out by cops with bullhorns the line was MUCH shorter, though they still administered thousands of shots that day. (Apparently some folks had actually purchased a code; the police said there were a few codes that showed up in hundreds of hands.)

FWIW, CVS in Missouri allows you to book an appt without any code. So it’s actually similar to how it works in CA and what some of us have been talking about. Many of our vaccination places run by the county/state require a code to book, but pharmacies (and some private insurance companies) have not.

I do agree that everybody needs to understand how their own state is working.

 

[NotUrsula]

FWIW, CVS in Missouri allows you to book an appt without any code. So it’s actually similar to how it works in CA and what some of us have been talking about. Many of our vaccination places run by the county/state require a code to book, but pharmacies (and some private insurance companies) have not.

I do agree that everybody needs to understand how their own state is working.

CVS may be doing it at some locations, but not where I am; if you try they refer you back to the website. (DH called about 20 locations in our area, and all turned him away. He was trying to get one classification ahead of where he was put, because of upcoming jury duty. However, his code came through today, so he has the appointment now.) It's been widely reported here that CVS isn't 100% consistent; they have more vaccine than they need out in the rural areas, and not enough in the cities.

 

[godisney14]

Can someone explain what the QR code is supposed to achieve?

Just like the matter with some places not giving out vaccination cards, the QR code thing is a YMMV. My county and neighboring county does not use any sort of code for getting the vaccine. In fact, one of my neighbors just got a vaccine from a county run site today. She said she forgot her wallet (and her son drove her to the site), but they still gave her the vaccine after just confirming her name that is on their schedule.

 

[angelmav]

I’ve been offered the Moderna but thinking about declining and waiting for the Johnson & Johnson to be made available. I’m not high risk and I’m still not comfortable with the mRNA derived versions since there has never been one used before. Might cause me trouble at work if I pass though. Ugh.

 

[GAN]

I’ve been offered the Moderna but thinking about declining and waiting for the Johnson & Johnson to be made available. I’m not high risk and I’m still not comfortable with the mRNA derived versions since there has never been one used before. Might cause me trouble at work if I pass though. Ugh.

The mRNA has been used before in several trials well before covid -influenza, rabies, zika. So test results are out there. Like you, I would have preferred J&J(mostly because it's one and done, but I also own stock in J&J ...so, well ...lol), in the end I believe the best vaccine is the one you can get. I'd be more concerned with the B117 variant than mRNA technology -more contagious, more deadly. Some long-term effects of covid aren't looking all that promising if you ask me!

 

[Pooh2]

I was looking forward to getting my vaccine. I checked the cdc website today and it states over 2,000 people have died since December after getting a vaccine. Is it just a coincidence? Now I just don’t know.

We have an acquaintance who lost her 30 year old daughter after her first dose of vaccine two weeks ago.
The autopsy showed this young woman had an undetected heart condition and her death was not related to the vaccine that she received 4 hours earlier.
No matter what the report says, the timing is very unsettling.

 

[Christine]

This is not about me but wanted to give some info on a friend's experience with J&J. 40-ish y/o male. Got the vaccine about 10AM yesterday, feeling tired in the evening, went to bed. Woke up with high fever,chills, exhaustion, body aches, muscle soreness, headache, feelings of pins and needles over whole body. Temperature spiked a few times to close to 105 degrees!

I have a coworker, older man, who got the J&J also and had about 6 hours of fever, but nothing like the above. Seems the J&J can produce some significant immune responses in some people.

 

[EACarlson]

Just changed my appointment from a 4.5 hour drive to the Reservation to a 7 minute drive to the Walgreens. Even with 85% of the state now eligible there were over 100 appointments available in the next three days within 20 miles of me.

 

[GAN]

This is not about me but wanted to give some info on a friend's experience with J&J. 40-ish y/o male. Got the vaccine about 10AM yesterday, feeling tired in the evening, went to bed. Woke up with high fever,chills, exhaustion, body aches, muscle soreness, headache, feelings of pins and needles over whole body. Temperature spiked a few times to close to 105 degrees!

I have a coworker, older man, who got the J&J also and had about 6 hours of fever, but nothing like the above. Seems the J&J can produce some significant immune responses in some people.

I don't think that's isolated to J&J though. I know at least a dozen people that received Moderna and Pfizer(2nd shot) and were down and out for up to 48-hours ...like you describe, but not 105 temp(that's shockingly high for an adult) just temps around 101. Almost everyone I know, had at least some of those symptoms to various degrees. It "seems" Pfizer is less severe than Moderna. I get my 2nd Pfizer on April 19th so I'll plan to take the following day off...

 

[Christine]

I don't think that's isolated to J&J though. I know at least a dozen people that received Moderna and Pfizer(2nd shot) and were down and out for up to 48-hours ...like you describe, but not 105 temp(that's shockingly high for an adult) just temps around 101. Almost everyone I know, had at least some of those symptoms to various degrees. It "seems" Pfizer is less severe than Moderna. I get my 2nd Pfizer on April 19th so I'll plan to take the following day off...

Yes, I agree that all the second dose vaccines seem to cause fever in some people. But this case was really high. My coworker who also had it was close to 102. In my very small sampling it seems like J&J might be a little stronger on the "fever" thing. Besides those two examples, I've heard that feedback from some other coworkers who got it. Fever was notable on that vaccine. I'm planning for it on my second dose Pfizer. I get a slight fever on the flu vaccine so why wouldn't I?

 

[GAN]

We have an acquaintance who lost her 30 year old daughter after her first dose of vaccine two weeks ago.
The autopsy showed this young woman had an undetected heart condition and her death was not related to the vaccine that she received 4 hours earlier.
No matter what the report says, the timing is very unsettling.

That is very sad and unsettling, no question. Unfortunately, what Covid has taught us is that you can throw any kind of traditional logic out the window ..and the same goes for the vaccine to a certain extent. We all probably know people who are healthier, younger, more physically fit than ourselves ...the last people we would think would either get a severe case or worse -die. But the virus doesn't discriminate, which is all the more reason to get vaccinated. I hope I don't die from the vaccine(or covid), but at this point, if it kills me I feel like I'll have died doing the right thing.

 

[trip]

I’m 72 and got my 2nd dose of moderma a yesterday at 3pm. So far the only side effect is a sore arm. Am so looking forward for these next 2 weeks to pass so I can hug my 9 grandkids!

 

[Minnesota!]

We have an acquaintance who lost her 30 year old daughter after her first dose of vaccine two weeks ago.
The autopsy showed this young woman had an undetected heart condition and her death was not related to the vaccine that she received 4 hours earlier.
No matter what the report says, the timing is very unsettling.

That is very unsettling. The same happened in my circle in early Feb - 25 year old male, healthy. Died 12 hours after vaccine. "Not related". Autopsy found fluid in his lungs.

I am a numbers person, and am TRYING to keep the percentages of Covid deaths vs vaccine deaths in sight. My anxiety tends to take over, though, and then I decide to just go live in the woods and ignore all humans! No humans = no transmission!

 

[lovemygoofy]

I got my first dose of Pfizer yesterday. I was really emotional, which I wasn't expecting. I can't imagine hot mess I'll be when I get my second shot in 3 weeks. My husband has his first shot of Moderna couple weeks ago. I'm so thrilled and blessed by the end of April we will be fully vaccinated as well as both our moms and my husband's 88 year old Grandma. I'm going to be giving lots hugs!

 

[godisney14]

This is not about me but wanted to give some info on a friend's experience with J&J. 40-ish y/o male. Got the vaccine about 10AM yesterday, feeling tired in the evening, went to bed. Woke up with high fever,chills, exhaustion, body aches, muscle soreness, headache, feelings of pins and needles over whole body. Temperature spiked a few times to close to 105 degrees!

I have a coworker, older man, who got the J&J also and had about 6 hours of fever, but nothing like the above. Seems the J&J can produce some significant immune responses in some people.

All of these vaccines, not just J&J, have been shown to cause a much stronger reaction with younger folks in general.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

J&J typically produces less side effects in general in comparison to others but that doesn't mean side effects won't happen. Right now most of the attention is on Pfizer and Moderna.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I forgot to mention in my update yesterday that my sister-in-law was able to move up her appointment from early April because her work was able to secure some doses. She got it on the other side of the state line. Her boyfriend works for the same company so they both got it on Friday 3/26 with Pfizer.

Her boyfriend:
~didn't have any side effects from what she said. They didn't mention sore arm but that's possible that could be the only side effect he had (some people don't consider that a side effect) if he had that.

She on the other hand:
~her entire left side of her body ached and hurt and she was very tired. Her left side of her body ached through most of Saturday though she was able to go to the store. She came back from the store and said that wiped her out so she was still really tired.
~By Sunday she was mostly fine again but a lingering tiredness that is gone by now.

I don't know if they did v-safe or not.

 

[NotUrsula]

.

Can someone explain what the QR code is supposed to achieve?

Just like the matter with some places not giving out vaccination cards, the QR code thing is a YMMV. My county and neighboring county does not use any sort of code for getting the vaccine. In fact, one of my neighbors just got a vaccine from a county run site today. She said she forgot her wallet (and her son drove her to the site), but they still gave her the vaccine after just confirming her name that is on their schedule.

Here there is no QR code, but a registration code number is issued to you via a return email some time after the initial registration. In my case the sequence went like this: I got online and registered (anyone here can do this, no wait to register), and immediately received an acknowledgement that said (I'm paraphrasing for brevity), "Thank you for completing the survey. You are classified as Phase 1B, Tier 2. At this time, the state is in Phase 1A. You will be notified when you are eligible to make an appointment. watch your email." Sixteen days later I got an email that said, "URGENT, the City is holding an upcoming vaccination event at Place X on March 24, 2021. Appointments are now available for you. Your patient ID number is #######. You must enter a valid Patient ID number when you make your appointment. Please use the following link to access the appointment form." and there was a drop-down menu of slots. You could choose one of those, or do a zip code search for other ones open elsewhere, but the appointment form after that requires a valid Patient ID or it greys out. Then, when you show up for your appointment, they check your ID and ask for verification against the database info to be sure that you are the person that Patient ID code was actually issued to via email.

I know families who, early on, were desperate to get vaccine for an older person, and had multiple family members in different areas create a new email in the name of Granny X so that the correct name/DOB was on the registration code that multiple people received. That does fool the system as long as all those people have been given Granny's correct DOB, address, list of medical conditions, etc, but it is cheating, because it requires a coordinated lie.

The state knows that it is possible to fool the system if you truly want to and are willing to lie to do it. From their POV, identifying individuals is not really the key point at this stage in the game. The point is stopping people from camping out in line at vaccination sites, and if they make the appointment process a bit complicated and also use individual ID numbers for the registrants, that cuts down on the number of people who are willing to go to the trouble to lie and jump the line. (Doing it the legitimate way with my own info was easy; it took about 10 minutes total, split between 2 linked web forms, and I did it on my smartphone.) When that big traffic jam at my designated site happened, they called as much media as they could get to come, and photos were all over the news and social media, with explanations that it happened because people tried to share codes. The next day they had almost no duplicates, because word had gotten out that lots of people were getting caught when they tried to cheat, so most people who had gotten their code from a friend or family member instead of directly from the City didn't show up. There is no fine or ticket if you get caught cheating; your punishment is taking the time and trouble to come to the location, stand in line for however long, and get turned away once you reach the door, which will also serve as a deterrent to every person you gripe about it to.

 

[si-am]

I got my 2nd dose of Pfizer yesterday and am home sick from work today. No fever, but off and on chills and entire body ache. General malaise.