Elizabeth Conley Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 There's an incredible amount of disinformation out there about this vaccine's availability. The city of Norfolk is vaccinating the entire public school population. They are also offering the vaccine through the health department. The hype is that only certain populations can receive the vaccine. In reality, the public school program vaccinated every parent that requested the vaccine, as well as their children. The city health department turned no one away. I went to vaccinate my children, whom I believed were the only members of our family who "qualified". When we finally got in to the nurse who actually administered the vaccine, she was amazed that I wasn't getting vaccinated as well. All hype aside, if you show up and request the vaccine, you'll get it. Of course, you have to go through a waiting room experience from H-e-l-l, and a gauntlet of paperwork shoveled to and fro by the most irrational, slowest administrators the city could find. Who cares? After a few hours of aggravation, you'll be vaccinated. The forms had a blank for the SSN of the person being vaccinated, which panicked about 25% of the parents. Many people don't carry their kids' SSNs with them. The forms also requested health insurance data. It would have been smart for the Health Department to warn people that this information was required before the victims actually showed up at the clinic, but no one will ever accuse the City of Norfolk's Health Department of being smart. Besides, it's evident that they would have vaccinated anyone who shuffled through their administrivia, regardless of what random numbers and letters were scrawled on the "patient's" forms. The staff was prone to coming out and making long, pointless speeches about how overwhelmed they felt, how hard they were trying, and why the waiting crowd should be more tolerant. At first the waiting crowd mistook these rants for actual information, and attempted to quiet the wailing children so these speeches could be made audible. After a while, efforts to silence the miserable, bored tots ceased, because those close enough to hear the administrators meandering rants assured the crowd that no one's questions were being answered. The waiting crowd wanted to know if they qualified to take the vaccine, and what supporting documents they might need to prove their identity, citizenship or residency. About 25 % of the crowd needed the information conveyed to them in their own language. Many left in frustration or fury, because they had no reason to believe they would receive the vaccine - no matter how long they waited. These people's reaction to the staff's amazingly poor communication skills was understandable. Should you attempt to get the vaccine for yourself or your children, rest assured that all who remained were vaccinated, regardless of documentation or qualification. If you want this vaccine, I suggest you go to a public health clinic that boasts an adequate supply, and play their silly games. This strategy should net success. Bring a good book. Scratch that. Bring 3 good books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 All hype aside, if you show up and request the vaccine, you'll get it. <snip> Besides, it's evident that they would have vaccinated anyone who shuffled through their administrivia, regardless of what random numbers and letters were scrawled on the "patient's" forms. <snip> Ditto on both counts here ~ we (kids & I) got ours yesterday and I wrote about it in this thread .. funny, there were big signs telling people to have our health care cards read, but nobody actually looked at them. They gave you a form and you filled it out - but nobody double checked anything - you could have written *any* name, address, birthday, and health care number. Nobody checked anything. :001_huh: That's actually fine with me, in the end - I'd like to see anyone who wants to be vaccinated given the chance, and the idea of someone not being able to get it because they didn't have a certain piece of ID doesn't sound right. We have a fairly large homeless population and most of them have no ID at all. And they're doing it that way here - anyone who shows up can get it, though they've "asked" that healthy people wait a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 There's an incredible amount of disinformation out there about this vaccine's availability.All hype aside, if you show up and request the vaccine, you'll get it. It varies quite a bit by location. There is a shortage of vaccine, and some areas have received very little, while others have plenty. My county doesn't have much, and they don't seem to have a plan, or at least they haven't communicated it to the public. My dh is a Family doctor, and his clinic has received zero doses, so far. (Although all the staff was offered Flumist a few weeks ago.) He thinks some of the pediatricians and OBs have got it, but none of the FPs have any yet. We've heard nothing about school or health department vaccine clinics. The last update on their website is October 9. It's very frustrating. More on shortage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 (edited) My kid's high school had a mob (over 8,000) folks show up yesterday for less than 4,000 available shots/mists.* Same thing happened south of us at another high school. Some areas are only now getting any vaccines, and then not nearly enough. You are very lucky to be in an area that HAS it!!!! * my city alone has about 100,000 people in it... the local high school (of five in our district) has over 2,000 kids. Our county got a measly 17,500 vaccines to use for the ENTIRE county!!!!There is NO WAY to vaccinate everyone!!! Edited October 27, 2009 by JFSinIL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I've been hearing stories of shortages in the states ~ and I keep watching, wondering when we're gonna hear about fights breaking out or stuff like that... hate to be a pessimist, but.. I can see it happening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 All hype aside, if you show up and request the vaccine, you'll get it. It must vary by region. The health dept here is out of the vaccine, unless they've gotten more since they announced they were out. Doctors are running out as fast as they can get their shipments. A friend of mine is 24 weeks pregnant. She can't get the vaccine until she is 28 weeks pregnant, if any is available then, because of the short supply and needing to route it to the most high-risk population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth Conley Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I keep watching, wondering when we're gonna hear about fights breaking out or stuff like that... hate to be a pessimist, but.. I can see it happening... We have no shortage of vaccine in our city, nor do we have a shortage of nursing staff to administer the vaccine. We do have a shortage of pragmatic, capable administrators to manage the clinics and capable staff to interface with the clients as they arrive. Many, many citizens were ready to reach across the desk and choke the incoherently rambling, disorganized personnel whose job it was simply to process their applications for the vaccine. I fully expected some violence to occur, simply because the staff was unable to answer a single cogent question posed by applicants. The state would do well to bring in the national guard to manage this aspect of administering the vaccine within each city and county. The guardsmen aren't needed to "keep order", so much as to create order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyrooch Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 There's an incredible amount of disinformation out there about this vaccine's availability. All hype aside, if you show up and request the vaccine, you'll get it. If you want this vaccine, I suggest you go to a public health clinic that boasts an adequate supply, and play their silly games. This strategy should net success. Bring a good book. Scratch that. Bring 3 good books. This is definitely different based on location. Where I live the only organizations that have received them are the county health depts. Doctors, clinics, etc, have yet to see any. They are being very strick with who they give it to. Both kids and myself have gotten it. My son is high risk so they vaccinated all three of us in an effort to protect him. However, since my husband wasn't there that day he has yet to receive it. They were very strict with whom they gave it to when we received ours. They did turn EVERYONE away that did not meet the criteria. They were only giving it to pregnant woman and children 6 months-18 with underlying medical conditions. and their families (if they were with them at the time) We are still trying to find a way to get my husband vaccinated since he didn't get his that day but we have yet to find any available doses for him. So, at least in my neck of the woods they are being very strick with who they are vaccinating right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babysparkler Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 It varies quite a bit by location. There is a shortage of vaccine, and some areas have received very little, while others have plenty. Yep... nothing here yet (my doctor hasn't even gotten one)... the way things look, by the time it gets here no one will need it b/c everyone will all have gotten the flu :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 There isn't much here in Oregon yet. The doctors' offices have not received any yet. The health department gets a small trickle of vaccine and is only doing high risk populations--people with a medical condition or pregnant women. They are definitely NOT doing the families of these people--I was able to get my high-risk dd vaccinated but not her sisters. I wish they would send some of those thousands and thousands of vaccine they they are administering elsewhere to here, and I'm not sure why some areas of the country rate higher than others. And we have good people who know how to run orderly vaccine clinics; they just need the actual vaccine!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 AND WHEN YOU GO... ...make sure they are giving your children the CHILDs vaccine. Seven kids in our town (including a 6 mo old baby) accidentally receive the adult vax. THankfully no side effects so far, at least as reported in the paper. Evidently the labels look similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean too Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 My kids go their shot last week at our fp office. We didn't have an appt., just walked in, signed the sign in sheet, said I wanted them vaccinated, signed the consent form, and were out of there in ten to fifteen minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I've been hearing stories of shortages in the states ~ and I keep watching, wondering when we're gonna hear about fights breaking out or stuff like that... hate to be a pessimist, but.. I can see it happening... If this flu were more dangerous I have no doubt this would happen. Several years ago I was involved in some presentations to our local police/FBI type people. It was very mysterious, they didn't actually tell us who they were, except "high level security". They asked us to give them worst case scenario if we had a severe pandemic, so they could understand the public health issues and try to plan for rebellions, uprisings, looting, and general civil unrest. Their perspective was quite interesting. They fully expect mayhem if things get dicey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 The staff was prone to coming out and making long, pointless speeches about how overwhelmed they felt, how hard they were trying, and why the waiting crowd should be more tolerant. At first the waiting crowd mistook these rants for actual information, and attempted to quiet the wailing children so these speeches could be made audible. After a while, efforts to silence the miserable, bored tots ceased, because those close enough to hear the administrators meandering rants assured the crowd that no one's questions were being answered. This made me laugh because I've been in these situations before. On a serious note, and I couldn't figure out what thread to put this in, I'm confused about the varying supply around the country. Our county just pulled back and only allows now those 4 and under to get the vax. Doesn't seem like it is so scarce elsewhere. My pregnant coworker/friend (with asthma and other respiratory issues) is scheduled to get it on Monday, which is great, but now most kids can't get it. Sigh. I'm worried she's going to be exposed to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtothreeboys Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 On Saturday, in our state, they had 45,000 turn out for a total of 1,750 vaccines. I fear the violence that is likely going to happen when you have that many people show up for so few shots. I can't imagine standing in a mass of people for the vaccine when one of the best ways to prevent the flu, according to the cdc, is to avoid large gatherings of people. I wonder how many of those 45,000 are now sick. BTW the crowds blocked people in their driveways and pushed down fences to form parking spots. The way the distribution is handled in our state is frightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christielee7278 Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Most of the counties here will have the h1n1 vax Friday and Saturday, but have specifically limited it to pregnant women and children 6 mos to 4 yrs. They are reporting that it will be available to everyone by mid Nov through Dec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 The forms had a blank for the SSN of the person being vaccinated, which panicked about 25% of the parents. Many people don't carry their kids' SSNs with them. I'm glad you finally got the vaccine you wanted after that wait, it sounds very frustrating! I am surprised people would give out their social security numbers, do you typically give that out for health care? I don't. I would be concerned about trusting both my health and my SSN/insurance info to people who exhibit such rank incompetence. I am picky that way though, maybe it's just me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 There is definitely a shortage around here. The hospitals are having to beg for it even. The only place to get them is from the local health departments at special clinics set up for the process. Even then, they cannot guarantee that you will be able to get the second half of the kids dose in a month. Also, it is only being given to children, health care workers/police, and two other risk groups I can't think of right now. The school kids are getting vaccinated but that is mostly the mist. According to the hospital I work for, the mercury free single dose shots are so in demand that they are almost impossible to come by. I am glad that some are not having the shortage problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I live in Fairfax County, VA and we can't get it. They apparently gave a lot to you guys in the south and we didn't get enough. They are doing out I think about 2000 vaccines a day throughout the county of over 1,000,000 people. Only pregant women, children 3 and under, and moms of children 3 and under can get it. No high risk olders including high risk older children over 3. On the Maryland side of DC, they have some flumist but over there they can't vaccinate pregnant women, babies, or high ridk people. The distribution is totally messed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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