For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hearing from many of you, particularly seniors increasingly upset over the difficulty they’ve encountered trying to get vaccinated against a deadly virus during a health emergency that’s now a year old.
I share your frustration.
I’m only 62, which means, under Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order, I’m not yet eligible for the shot. But I’ll be thrilled to get it when I can, as soon as I can, because it’s the smart thing to do.
I’d like to get back to normal, too.
So, yes, I understand why you’re distressed and disillusioned with the haphazard way America has responded to the year-old COVID-19 pandemic, especially the bungled rollout of the vaccines that are supposed to end it.
Clearly, our national, state and local leaders could’ve – and should’ve – done a better job of preparing to distribute and administer the emergency-use vaccines immediately upon their approval by the proper government agencies.
Even with the extraordinarily rapid development of those vaccines, our elected representatives – from the White House to the governor’s office to the County Commission – had 10 months to formulate an efficient strategy for mass inoculation.
These public officials all knew a vaccine was coming, eventually, and yet they weren’t ready when it arrived. There was no grand plan, no well-coordinated effort, no system in place to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
Instead, we’ve witnessed a trickle-down incompetence that led to the county’s flawed, frustrating vaccination appointment scheduling system that has left residents angry and fearful, wondering how long they will have to wait to get a potentially lifesaving shot.
When the county first opened a registry for those wanting vaccination, there was a glimmer of hope. But all registering gets you is advanced notification of when appointments will be taken and an alert when that time comes. With thousands or tens of thousands of people flooding phone lines and computer servers at the same time to get one of just a couple hundred appointments, it has not worked out well.
When you’re notified by text that the land rush is on, you better be quick – and lucky – because those appointments aren’t available for long.
Maybe a couple of minutes.
Often less.
“Within 5 seconds of opening their internet portal, the following message appeared: ‘Too Many Requests – Slow down, you have done too many requests too quickly. Please wait and try again,’” Vero Beach’s Jim Davis, a former local radio executive, wrote to me in an unsolicited Facebook Messenger correspondence.
“Applicants should NOT be chosen by the speed of their internet connection or proximity to their servers.”
Nor should anyone need to depend on friends and relatives working as teams, repeatedly calling or clicking, to help them get through to make appointments. But that’s happening, too.
Remember: Some seniors in our community don’t have computers or the skills necessary to use them.
The county’s inefficient process, combined with scarce vaccine supply and an uncertainty about when new doses will be delivered, has created something of a frenzy – much like the radio shows of yesteryear, when caller No. 5 won tickets to a concert.
The intense competition for medical care also has fueled suspicions that some well-connected people are getting appointments without going through the system.
If that’s happening, however, I don’t know about it – or you would.
Some of our neighbors, such as Indian River Shores resident Carl Yellon, are so eager to get vaccinated that, in addition to playing the lottery here, they’re also registering in other counties.
“We’re going to keep trying here, because this is where we live, but we’re willing to travel if that’s what it takes,” said Yellon, 70. “We have friends in Palm Beach County, and they’ve already gotten vaccinated, so we’re thinking about driving down there.
“You’d think this county, with only 150,000 people, would be better able to manage something like this, but I guess people from other counties are coming here, too.”
Crossing county lines, in fact, is allowed under the governor’s order, which he amended last week to require anyone getting vaccinated in Florida to prove he or she is a state resident.
DeSantis’ action was taken after numerous news reports of visitors from other states and Canada – “vaccine tourists” – coming to Florida to get their COVID shots. Given the lack of vaccine doses available at this time, the residency restriction is needed.
So is patience.
Judging by what we’ve seen in the six-plus weeks since vaccinations began in Florida, there’s a real chance we won’t get through the first phase of 65-and-over inoculations until the spring.
That means the under-65 group might not get vaccinated until the summer, which will cause only more statewide angst, particularly for those over 55 and still considered at greater risk of serious illness if infected by the virus.
Truth be told, DeSantis botched the rollout by not opting for five-year age intervals – starting at 80 and over and progressing downward – which would’ve allowed older seniors easier access to shots.
More than 4.5 million of Florida’s 21.5 million residents are 65 and over, and that’s cramming too many people into a mass vaccination process being utilized for the first time, especially when the flow of vaccine is uncertain.
There is reason for optimism, however: Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden has expressed a sense of urgency in combatting COVID-19, making the pandemic a priority and committing more federal government resources to help produce vaccines and assist states in distributing them.
In a message to local residents last week, the Indian River County Hospital District stated that “supplies from the government have been and continue to be very limited in our communities.”
The district also urged residents to sign up for vaccine-availability alerts, so they’ll be notified when they can try to schedule appointments.
“We encourage you to keep trying!” the message stated. And you should.
Be patient. Try not to get frustrated. More vaccines are coming.
