Vaccine Rollout - State starts out with an 'F' but much improved, Big Island gets B+

[Punaperson]

I had signed up via HMC/CDC ( earlier post ), and got my shot ( Moderna ) via the drive through this morning : civilian volunteers taking care of paperwork, National Guard directing vehicles and actually giving the shots. It was well co-ordinated, went smoothly, no glitches. I received an e-mail to sign up for the second shot about an hour ago.

[macuu222]

I signed up for the J&J vaccine Monday when they went to level 1C(65 and older) .I received the Johnson and Johnson shot the next day(Tuesday). And I'm done.  The line was pretty long at the Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium but it moved fairly fast and as stated above, the national guard was everywhere making sure everyone had what they needed, directing traffic, and giving the actual shots. Arm was a little sore for about a day but other than that....no side effects after 3 days. They keep you there after the shot for 15 minutes for any initial reactions to the vaccine before you can leave.  The schedule for the J&J vaccine has it available only once a week from 9am to 3pm at the stadium until they run out.

[leilanidude]

If you get the J&J shot at the tennis stadium, it does not matter when your appointment time is. People were taken into the line whenever they showed up. So even if you pick a afternoon appointment time, you can show up in the morning.

[macuu222]

Looks like Lt. Governor Josh Green is pushing for 55 and over vaccinations starting March 28th. I'm hoping that will happen since my wife missed the 65 and over vaccinations by 6 months.

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/03/2...-by-may-1/

[Carey]

it does not matter when your appointment time is. People were taken into the line whenever they showed up. So even if you pick a afternoon appointment time, you can show up in the morning.

I work these clinics.... PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW THIS INFORMATiON!!!!
People were really upset with the lines that were created precisely because some inconsiderate folks showed up at the wrong time! Everything in a vaccine clinic that deals with hundreds of folks is scheduled, inconsiderate folks bog up the schedule & can actually cause changes.....
The 65-75 year olds are really starting to change the way the DOH has worked the sign-in system....  the quantity of squirrelly older baby-boomers that have made appointments on the national VAMS system & then want to change them.... because of the amount of work that it takes to deal with this, the DOH will no longer do it & folks must first cancel their existing appointment then make a new one...
If Squirrelly folks follow LDʻs advise, the DOH will have to make changes that could include making folks wait until their time slot is & if they miss.... well....

[ChunksterK]

While I agree that people shouldn't jump the queue when it comes to vaccinations or anything else, I have to take issue with a few of Carey's points. I have helped several seniors whom I also help with their taxes sign up for the vaccines, so I have some experience.

1. The total mess at last Tuesday's event was the DOH's rodeo, and they screwed it up by letting the cows out of the pen. All they had to do was put one person on the line checking appointments and sending early comers away until it was their turn. They had plenty of security available to enforce that, but they didn't do it. One of my elderly friends went on time at 10:30, and they were in line for an hour and a half. Totally unnecessary and DOH's fault for not enforcing the rules.

2. The national VAMS system sent many folks an email and posted a message on their website telling them they could reschedule their appointments without cancelling existing ones. The system was supposed to cancel the first appointment when a second one appeared. It's not the client's fault if that didn't work or if DOH couldn't keep up with it.

3. Calling desperate seniors "squirrelly older baby boomers" is insulting, particularly given the fact that the Hawaii DOH chose to vaccinate just about every type of public employee and a number of non-essential retail workers before bothering to help 74 year-olds with co-morbidities. This went on for weeks and weeks after the CDC had called for states to do everyone over 65. Even the usually docile Hawaii media made comments about how DOH kept expanding the "essential" category with little or no real vetting.

[Carey]

Chuckster to your points, in order:
"1. The total mess at last Tuesday's event was the DOH's rodeo"
The DOH has had quite a few walk-in in vaccine clinics, with folks of various ages over the last 2 months, what you notices is the FIRST ONE that had lots of folks show up outside of their appointment time... They learned & are trying to add many more VOLUNTEERS just to control this age group! You wanna volunteer? I will send you the info on how to help out!
"2. The national VAMS system.....was supposed to"
Unfortunately this NATIONAL (not DOH, they have nothing to do with the actual computer system, they are just users) system has some issues, one of which is the speed it has for making cancellations then rescheduling... it can take... days... it usually does end up working, but most folks in the age group that is now being served have freaked out & contacted the DOH, they were TRYING to assist, but when you have lots more than one person that has called in & is changing for the 2nd, or even third time.... & for the admin, it takes time for each one (they started to get backed up with requests & can no longer justify assisting folks that did not notice that VAMS also reminds you to make sure you can actually make the appointment you schedule, so in reality, this should not even be happening
"3. Calling desperate seniors "squirrelly older baby boomers"" I called the folks that come outside of their appointment times & that think they can just keep changing appointment times on a whim ʻsquirrellyʻ. Desperate folks would show up on time & not keep changing appointments! The fact that this is something that has not happened on the large scale we are seeing the last 2 weeks, ie: UNTIL the 65-75 age group, indicates that this change is seems to have something to do with the age group... aka older baby boomers...
Sorry if you took offense at my trying to show the reason not to come at non-appointment times & not to keep changing appointments, and I am sure that you are more than willing to assist us & look forward to seeing you volunteer at upcoming clinics!

[Obie]

My wife has been in HMC for a month. She just got transferred to Life Care Center.
She is in the Covid19 isolation wing for 14 days.
I had registered both of us for the vaccine.
I made an appointment for her on Thursday but even though Life Care is transporting her to a drive through clinic it will reset the clock on her isolation.
I did cancel a previous appointment and I will probably cancel this one.

---

Carey, I agree with you about my age group !
Most of them couldn't follow directions and I thought a couple of times the Guard members might get run over.
I had all my stuff together and should have been able to bypass the parking area where the people who didn't have theirs together.
I got there about 10 minutes early and it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to get through.

[TomK]

2.  The national VAMS system sent many folks an email and posted a message on their website telling them they could reschedule their appointments without cancelling existing ones.  The system was supposed to cancel the first appointment when a second one appeared.  It's not the client's fault if that didn't work or if DOH couldn't keep up with it.

I'm only going to comment on this bit. From my experience, that system worked. I can say that because I used it. I had a shot scheduled for March 13th at the tennis stadium but was dreading it as I knew I would have to stand for a long time in line, and my back injury doesn't allow that, but I wasn't given another option. However, VAMS changed their system and allowed people to reschedule their appointments at a more appropriate location and once that appointment was confirmed, the original appointment was automatically canceled. I'm now scheduled for a shot on 30th March at the Arc of Hilo. Not ideal, but at least I do not have to injure my back further.

What wasn't done well was letting people know about this. Some people were told that if you can't walk a mile or stand for 30 minutes then you should reschedule your appointment. Many other people were not told about this, myself included. I only found out through second-hand information and only on the day before the shot even though I was registered with VAMS.

I don't know where that particular bit of responsibility lies because it seems so many different groups of people are being told different things and of course that will always lead to chaos.

[ChunksterK]

Carey, I agree that the people who showed up before their appointments were idiots who should have been turned away. You don't seem to want to answer the question about why there was a completely inadequate response to their bad behavior. The answer is bad management by the bureaucrats in charge. Just have security escort them away from the line. Also, DOH of all people should know about exponential spread. When the first idiots got through, the first thing some of them did was call their friends who called others to come on down.

People who tried to reschedule their appointments were doing what they were clearly told (I saw the email and on line posts) they could do. So you blame the victims when the system failed to do what it was supposed to for them? And how would you know how many people changed their time on a "whim?" Did you talk to a significant portion of them?

Finally, you don't address the DOH's caving in to political pressure when it came to who got vaccinated first. That's a big reason there was such a rush and some people behaved in an unacceptable manner. DOH should have been better prepared for it, but like most state agencies in Hawaii, thinking on their feet isn't a valued quality.

I do volunteer to help people with their taxes and in other ways. You probably don't want me at your next event, because I would likely call out some of both the attendees and the officials in charge as idiots, which they are.