Jan 22, 2021 2:57 PM GMT
We just wasted over 2 hours trying to get Covid vaccine shots. We have been unable to get appointments in Florida through either the online or phone systems. But a friend called yesterday and said he'd just gotten his without an appointment, at a drive-thru site a few miles from us. And he was offereing to drive us himself this morning.
So we got up early today and left at 6:30 in our friend's car, and were in a long snaking line of cars about 10 minutes later in a grassy field. We knew shots wouldn't begin until 8. Around 8:20 some car movement began, and we saw uniformed National Guard troops start to circulate among the waiting cars.
They were telling us it was reservation only, not drive-up. We were told there had been drive-thru yesterday, and planned for today, too, but shots were cancelled late last night, due to insufficient vaccine availability. The word was never sent to the public. In fact, a board as you drove in said "No Appts Needed".
"Yeah, we forgot to change that," they replied. But instead we were given a brand new telephone number to make appointments. So as we left I called that number from my cell. It just prompted you to enter your birthday, ZIP, and voice contact number. Then the recorded voice said a "representative" would phone back to make an actual appointment as they became available.
The old appt. number is now obsolete, as is the online site. So now we wait for the call-back, but I'm still checking the online site of our pharmacy chain, that's also giving shots, but not in our county yet. There's also our hospital, but their phone line is either constantly busy or gives an "overloaded" signal.
President Biden is inheriting a seriously dysfunctional system, if you can call it a system at all. No wonder so few shots have been administered. It's certainly not from lack of people trying to get them, and willing to drive some miles and wait in long lines outdoors for them. Apparently there are far fewer doses available than the Trump Admin led us to believe, that may be getting distributed poorly.
So we got up early today and left at 6:30 in our friend's car, and were in a long snaking line of cars about 10 minutes later in a grassy field. We knew shots wouldn't begin until 8. Around 8:20 some car movement began, and we saw uniformed National Guard troops start to circulate among the waiting cars.
They were telling us it was reservation only, not drive-up. We were told there had been drive-thru yesterday, and planned for today, too, but shots were cancelled late last night, due to insufficient vaccine availability. The word was never sent to the public. In fact, a board as you drove in said "No Appts Needed".
"Yeah, we forgot to change that," they replied. But instead we were given a brand new telephone number to make appointments. So as we left I called that number from my cell. It just prompted you to enter your birthday, ZIP, and voice contact number. Then the recorded voice said a "representative" would phone back to make an actual appointment as they became available.
The old appt. number is now obsolete, as is the online site. So now we wait for the call-back, but I'm still checking the online site of our pharmacy chain, that's also giving shots, but not in our county yet. There's also our hospital, but their phone line is either constantly busy or gives an "overloaded" signal.
President Biden is inheriting a seriously dysfunctional system, if you can call it a system at all. No wonder so few shots have been administered. It's certainly not from lack of people trying to get them, and willing to drive some miles and wait in long lines outdoors for them. Apparently there are far fewer doses available than the Trump Admin led us to believe, that may be getting distributed poorly.
