Trying to get Covid vaccine since March 5th. No luck.

[CO skier]

I have been eligible for a Covid vaccine in Colorado since March 5th. I would prefer the J&J one-and-done Covid vaccine, but at this point will take any appointment. King Soopers pharmacy, any Safeway within 50 miles (max radius allowed) , Walmart and Walgreens forget about it.

King Soopers and Walgreens do not even offer the option of a Covid vaccine appointment on their website.

How are people finding where a Covid vaccine is available, much less a second dose? How many Covid vaccines are expiring in pharmacies that offer them because people like me cannot access them through websites that do not offer them?

 

[silentg]

Have you registered with your Health Department? If you go to Walmart where they have the vaccine can you make an appointment or put your name on a waiting list? I’m not sure how it is in your state but in Florida they have some walk in sites that don’t require an appointment. You may have to wait in a line but you will get vaccinated.Good luck I hope you get the vaccine soon.

 

[DaveNV]

What city are you in? Is there a state-run immunization website that lists county-specific locations?

Try going into the WalMart Pharmacy, and asking if they keep a "Waste Avoidance" list. The WalMart here has one. They put down your name and contact info. If they have appointment cancellations or no-shows, they call people on the list to come in, so the vaccine doesn't go to waste. We got my husband on that list here, and they called him in two days later. I told another couple about it, who're even younger, and they were called in a few days later. So it does work.

Good luck!

Dave

 

[DaveNV]

A little creative Googling turned up this Colorado page: https://vaccinefinder.org/search/

Maybe this will help?

Dave

 

[CO skier]

What city are you in?

Denver, CO, a major urban area with a myriad of pharmacies within a 50 mile radius.

I did what most computer literate people would do and Google searched for "Colorado Covid vaccine appointment." It just led to an hour-long trail to nowhere.

The "cancellations" and "no shows" must be coming from Covid appointments. I just want to know how to make an appointment really anywhere in Colorado.

 

[DaveNV]

Denver, CO, a major urban area with a myriad of pharmacies within a 50 mile radius.

I did what most computer literate people would do and Google searched for "Colorado Covid vaccine appointment." It just led to an hour-long trail to nowhere.

The "cancellations" and "no shows" must be coming from Covid appointments. I just want to know how to make an appointment really anywhere in Colorado.

I think part of the problem is people are taking up the slots for appointments by multi-registering. So once they get one shot, they don't show for the others. As to where to schedule an appointment, I can't say for sure. I do know when appointments are filled for the week, the local places here stops accepting new appointments. Maybe try calling one of the Pharmacies and ask how you change ton their schedule? I've also been told if you show up at a place near the end of the day, if they have leftover vaccines, they'll put people in. Can't hurt to ask.

Dave

 

[bluehende]

Around here the nextdoor ap has been the best way to find a slot. People seem to always put up when slots open up somewhere.

 

[CO skier]

Maybe this will help?

Thanks for trying to help. Been there, done that with multiple "search" sites. Some of them even showed appointments available at some King Soopers and Walgreens locations, but when I go to the websites, there is no option to schedule a Covid vaccine.

Tried your suggested site, anyway. No luck using the 20 mile maximum radius. My experience is that I would not find anything using a 20 mile radius for locations within a 100 mile radius.

 

[rapmarks]

Someone posted a number on next door and I managed to get an appointment
in lee and collier county in Florida it is very difficult and frustrating to get an appointment
about three weeks ago, someone on next door posted another number. I immediately sent that number out on our community Facebook page and by text to several neighbors. At least thirty if not fifty people have let me know they were able to get appointments with that number.

 

[CO skier]

I think part of the problem is people are taking up the slots for appointments by multi-registering.

That is the thing I cannot figure out. I just want to schedule a Covid appointment like my governor is telling me I should be able to do. People are scheduling (multiple?) appointments, somehow. I just want to know the code to schedule my one (or two).

 

[DaveNV]

I know with our local Walgreens you have to be registered with them before they'll even talk about vaccines. Maybe try that, or call them tomorrow and ask what you can do.

Walmart and Sams Clubs seems to always have availability, but when they don't have vaccine, they turn off the pages. Maybe try calling them, too?

Not real sure what to offer.

Dave

 

[CO skier]

I immediately sent that number out on our community Facebook page and by text to several neighbors. At least thirty if not fifty people have let me know they were able to get appointments with that number.

Kind of sad if Facebook (which I am most definitely not part of) is how the nationwide Covid vaccine distribution will be successful.

 

[linsj]

I can't help you since I live in Illinois, and every state is operating differently. It took me six weeks from the day I became eligible to get an appointment (for two weeks later) and that was only after Chicago and Cook County opened two more large vaccination sites. I registered at my county vaccine site so I'd get updates on when appointments would be opened. Walgreens is the only pharmacy here with vaccine, but checking periodically hasn't turned up open appointments. I'm working full-time and can't live on appointment sites like some people are doing. I saw in the news that there's a local Facebook group dedicated to helping people find appointments, but I don't have a personal FB page to join it.

The fact that you've been looking only since March 5 seems like a short time to me! But I know how you feel.

 

[Passepartout]

When we became eligible, my doc said to ask at every Rx. I called around to get on a waitlist,we registered at our (Kroger) Rx. We asked to be called if there was a cancellation/no show. It took about a week and we had our first (one Pfizer, one Moderna) at different pharmacies. Since then, VS called and the state health dept set up a website to register and 'someone will call with an appt'.

All I can suggest is to ask everywhere- especially little mom n pop Rxs that use a sheet of paper, not a national computer list. It WILL work.

Good Luck!

Jim

PS you only need to schedule the first one. #2 is automatically set up when you get the first jab.

 

[CO skier]

The fact that you've been looking only since March 5 seems like a short time to me!

I would like to be one of the 100,000,000 vaccinations within the first 100 days, since I am eligible; but it sure ain't easy.

Will there ever be a report of how many vaccines expired in the first 100 days?

 

[DebBrown]

In Chicago area, if you click on the W in the left hard corner, it will show you the covid vaccine options. It's a struggle here too.

 

[Panina]

I was trying for a week with no luck. Then I spent one day on the Walmart site for hours, over and over again seeing if an appointment was available. The 4th hour I got one.

 

[elaine]

Nextdoor is an excellent resource IMHO. Someone went to a vaccine clinic where the nurse told them that they had a lot of extra vaccines and not enough people registered, so they would give shots to anyone to use it up--but only "open to anyone" in certain locales with oversupply. She posted on Nextdoor and DS/DIL got spots. It's a 1.5 hr drive away, not somewhere they would have every thought of.

 

[controller1]

I was trying for a week with no luck. Then I spent one day on the Walmart site for hours, over and over again seeing if an appointment was available. The 4th hour I got one.

Similar here. For about three days in a row, about four times each day, I spent time on the Walmart site checking for availability. On the fourth day around 9:00 pm I found availability for an appointment three days later! Today we received our 2nd Pfizer vaccine at a Walmart drive-through vaccination site.

 

[CO skier]

we registered at our (Kroger) Rx.

How did you "register?" Did it take a personal visit, because there is not an online option on the King Soopers (Kroger) site to do this?

 

[controller1]

How did you "register?" Did it take a personal visit, because there is not an online option on the King Soopers (Kroger) site to do this?

I wish you were here in Louisiana. I just checked and there are plenty of appointments available at Walmart next week.

 

[CO skier]

I was trying for a week with no luck. Then I spent one day on the Walmart site for hours, over and over again seeing if an appointment was available. The 4th hour I got one.

I would like to do my part to combat the spread of Covid through a vaccination. I have spent too many hours looking for a Covid appointment. I sincerely hope that my lack of success is not replicated and thousands of vaccine doses expire due to a lack of relatively easy access. It is difficult enough to get people to get a walk-up flu vaccine at any pharmacy.

 

[Passepartout]

How did you "register?" Did it take a personal visit, because there is not an online option on the King Soopers (Kroger) site to do this?

For me, it took a walk in while I was grocery shopping in the store. Paula called around to small pharmacies for those with wait lists and/or 'no waste' lists. Both of us were vaxx'd in less than a week.

Since we've gotten our first shots, (6 weeks) at least 4 of the places we were on a list have called with appts. We thank them and tell them they can move on down the list.

 

[rapmarks]

In Chicago area, if you click on the W in the left hard corner, it will show you the covid vaccine options. It's a struggle here too.

My brother in law,a 75 year old vet is still waiting. Diabetic with heart problems

 

[LisaH]

I tried the Covid vaccine website (like the one DaveNV posted) for several days and stumbled into the same quagmire as CO skier. Previously someone posted on Nextdoor about our county’s vaccine drive. I was able to make the appointment but it was canceled a few days later due to shortage of vaccine doses. Yesterday I was able to make appointments for DH and me for this weekend from a post on his company’s BBS, granted that we have to drive to a different county. Hope it won’t be canceled this time. Such vaccination efforts by the county’s public health programs seem to have more available appointments than the local pharmacies.