Scholarship table
Called the Vaccine Appointment number in Lee County Florida today. Minutes of busy signals/call can’t go through but I eventually got into the queue. They took my information (birthdate, phone #) via tape, said they would call me back. 5 hours later a real person called me back. I have a 9am appointment for Wednesday (day after tomorrow).
Honestly Florida may have this thing right.
For the 5000 who were lucky enough to get appointments today, good news. But for every lucky one, many (30 or 40?) didn’t get through. Unfortunately, supply still well short of demand.
What’s the Florida policy for essential workers?
Health care workers and anyone working in nursing homes were first, along with nursing home residents. Next come seniors (65+). Then essential, non health care employees (teachers, police, fire fighters, grocery store employees, etc.). Then the public at large. At least that’s my understanding.
So is the second shot booster the exact same as the first shot? Or is the dosage, etc different? If getting the first shot is this much of a free for all, how are we going to manage making sure people that have gotten the first shot get their booster within the acceptable time period per the clinical trials, and also distinguish those folks from the crush of people still trying to get their first dose?
Nope. They are also directing doses specifically to high income areas in much higher supplies. So if you are in a county with high wealth, you can get a vaccine. If you are a first responder in areas of low wealth...you don't matter and are still waiting.Many states are similar. Somehow "concierge doctors" are getting supplies that they are authorized to give to seniors or people with pre-existing conditions, while individual counties can't get doses delivered to vaccinate their first responders and critical hospital staff.Good news for people thought that can/want to get on a list. The CDC list of conditions is pretty lengthy, and includes things like being a current or former smoker, having asthma, high blood pressure, and others. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.htmlSo pretty much most people can qualify if they want to.
Nope. They are also directing doses specifically to high income areas in much higher supplies. So if you are in a county with high wealth, you can get a vaccine. If you are a first responder in areas of low wealth...you don't matter and are still waiting.
Source?
It's difficult to provide a formal source for this, what I can do is give you what I am basing this off of. 1. I have friends/colleagues that have their physicians associated with a ritzy private hospital. They had been notified that they are eligible for the vaccine. That hospital is now providing 700-1000 doses a day, limited only by available doctors to inject in arm. It is only available though to patients currently associated with a doctor in their hospital network, regardless of status. So I have friends who are frontline workers, that can't get a vaccine, but a 30-year old obese individual with a doctor at that hospital is getting it. 2. In my area, family practices have started to like to go to a "concierge" model. Where even if you have insurance, you must pay an extra fee (often $10k+ per year) to be a part of their practice. I have friends in 2-states (Florida being one of them) that have been told they can make an appointment for their vaccine and will be getting it this week. That led me to investigate a little deeper, as these types of things intrigue me.In some areas they publicly disclose where doses (and how many) have been allocated. I've looked through some of those lists and you can see some concierge practices listed. It is slightly above board as a friend explained, here is the trick.First, your clinic applies to be a vaccine provider. You then justify that you need doses to vaccinate your front-line workers. If approved, the smallest order is for 100-doses of Moderna. You then get allocated 100-doses. But because you are a small concierge practice with minimal staff/doctors, you maybe use up 40 doses for staff. You are then required to use up the remaining doses so they do not go to waste, where you make an effort to follow the guidelines (currently phase 1a and 1b). You then use those remaining doses for your high-paying clients that "loosely" fit the CDC guidelines, or if you have no one else in the priority categories you are allowed to call family and friends to ensure that they do not go to waste.So technically above board, and following the guidelines, but then you have 100 doses going to a concierge practice, when a neighboring rural county can't vaccinate their front line medical workers. It is a bit anecdotal in that the data I can see is limited.
Nebraska Governor says undocumented workers at meatpacking plants won't be given the vaccine.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1346525695879614467?s=19