No, I still have not hit pay
dirt in my quest to get my mother inoculated with the coronavirus vaccine.
I did everything I could yesterday to get her an appointment, but so far, nothing.
I even went so far as to wake up at 3 a.m. this morning to try to get her the shot … actually I could not sleep, was up at about 1:45 a.m., and decided to go online at 3 a.m. to see what I could do.
I went onto the Nassau County site, and after going off and on there for nearly a half hour, I miraculously found an opening. I clicked for it, but the site then said that the opening was filled.
Now, you have to ask yourself, as I did, about how an opening for a single appointment became available at roughly 3:15 a.m. in the morning.
Did the facility discover that they had enough in their last vial to inoculate one more person … and discovered this in the middle of the night, no less?
No, it doesn’t make sense at all, as none of this does.
And by 3:30 a.m., I had had enough, and went back to sleep, and happily, I guess the remorse I had at not finding a spot for my mother put my soundly to sleep for the next two-plus hours.
I do believe I will eventually get my mother an appointment for her inoculation, but where, when and how is the question.
One place, 50 miles away from us out in Suffolk County, was actually taking email registrations, so I sent them an email, they acknowledged receiving it, and she was placed on a waiting list.
Maybe she is the first one on the list, maybe she is the 10,000th one on the list, but she is on the facility’s list to get the shot, so at least I was able to do that yesterday, a small step for my mother, a giant leap for my sanity.
And like seemingly millions of other people, I will be clicking away today on the Internet trying to get my mother a shot.
She has spoken to several friends and relatives who are in the same spot as her, and they have also faced the same problems.
Of course, our state and local governments blame the federal government for this catastrophe, because the feds are just so so easy to blame when you demonstrate how incompetent you really are in the planning of such an exercise.
Our state and local governments had months to prepare for the coming of the vaccine, yet their preparation demonstrates that they did whatever planning they did by the seat of their pants.
And wait, the best is yet to come.
When the general public is able to get the vaccine, you are going to see chaos like you have never seen before, making what is happening now with our seniors look like a mere footnote to this much larger problem.
Our state and local governments need to step up so that this type of thing does not happen when the general rollout happens.
They should contract out the dissemination of the vaccine to a professional logistics concern, one whose business is it to plan and prepare for huge logistical and availability efforts.
There are companies out there that do just that, and why use a scattershot platform to do this when you can let an expert handle it for you and do it the right way?
Sure, it costs money, but what is happening now is potentially costing lives.
Do it the right way the next time.
I am sure there would be bumps in the road using an expert to handle this situation, but they would be far fewer than are being fielded now.
Not only do you have logistical challenges now related to supply and demand, but you are relying on a technology that, frankly, many older citizens do not buy into and do not understand.
What was the thought of our state and local government by making the direction of this so Internet related?
Do they actually think that seniors over 75 years of age are as attuned to the Internet as 25 year olds are?
In my mother’s case, I am doing the electronics legwork, because my mother has a limited knowledge of the Internet, and if I left it to her, she would probably never get an appointment.
And it is me and a million other people … most seniors who did get their appointments, and those who are still waiting, are relying on children and grandchildren to get them these appointments, at least in people I have spoken to.
The younger generations simply have more of a feel for this technology, and honestly, I can’t let my 89 year old mother—who turns 90 in March—to do it all herself, because she doesn’t really understand the nuances of the Internet to begin with.
So what you have is a mess, a mess on Long Island, a mess in New York City, a mess in Westchester, a mess in Rockland … a state-wide mess of major proportions.
There has got to be a better way, and our legislators had better find that better way really soon, because when the general population is in line to get their vaccinations, the proverbial dung will hit the fan if things aren’t cleared up by then, and if you think you have a mess now, you don’t know what a real mess is when younger, healthy people with Internet knowledge up the wazoo can’t get what they want and get it quickly and without any roadblocks in their way.
And we’ve been told by our leaders that the year 2021 is going to be so much better than the year 2020?
Fourteen days into the new year, with all that is going on, I would say that is a debatable proclamation indeed.
I did everything I could yesterday to get her an appointment, but so far, nothing.
I even went so far as to wake up at 3 a.m. this morning to try to get her the shot … actually I could not sleep, was up at about 1:45 a.m., and decided to go online at 3 a.m. to see what I could do.
I went onto the Nassau County site, and after going off and on there for nearly a half hour, I miraculously found an opening. I clicked for it, but the site then said that the opening was filled.
Now, you have to ask yourself, as I did, about how an opening for a single appointment became available at roughly 3:15 a.m. in the morning.
Did the facility discover that they had enough in their last vial to inoculate one more person … and discovered this in the middle of the night, no less?
No, it doesn’t make sense at all, as none of this does.
And by 3:30 a.m., I had had enough, and went back to sleep, and happily, I guess the remorse I had at not finding a spot for my mother put my soundly to sleep for the next two-plus hours.
I do believe I will eventually get my mother an appointment for her inoculation, but where, when and how is the question.
One place, 50 miles away from us out in Suffolk County, was actually taking email registrations, so I sent them an email, they acknowledged receiving it, and she was placed on a waiting list.
Maybe she is the first one on the list, maybe she is the 10,000th one on the list, but she is on the facility’s list to get the shot, so at least I was able to do that yesterday, a small step for my mother, a giant leap for my sanity.
And like seemingly millions of other people, I will be clicking away today on the Internet trying to get my mother a shot.
She has spoken to several friends and relatives who are in the same spot as her, and they have also faced the same problems.
Of course, our state and local governments blame the federal government for this catastrophe, because the feds are just so so easy to blame when you demonstrate how incompetent you really are in the planning of such an exercise.
Our state and local governments had months to prepare for the coming of the vaccine, yet their preparation demonstrates that they did whatever planning they did by the seat of their pants.
And wait, the best is yet to come.
When the general public is able to get the vaccine, you are going to see chaos like you have never seen before, making what is happening now with our seniors look like a mere footnote to this much larger problem.
Our state and local governments need to step up so that this type of thing does not happen when the general rollout happens.
They should contract out the dissemination of the vaccine to a professional logistics concern, one whose business is it to plan and prepare for huge logistical and availability efforts.
There are companies out there that do just that, and why use a scattershot platform to do this when you can let an expert handle it for you and do it the right way?
Sure, it costs money, but what is happening now is potentially costing lives.
Do it the right way the next time.
I am sure there would be bumps in the road using an expert to handle this situation, but they would be far fewer than are being fielded now.
Not only do you have logistical challenges now related to supply and demand, but you are relying on a technology that, frankly, many older citizens do not buy into and do not understand.
What was the thought of our state and local government by making the direction of this so Internet related?
Do they actually think that seniors over 75 years of age are as attuned to the Internet as 25 year olds are?
In my mother’s case, I am doing the electronics legwork, because my mother has a limited knowledge of the Internet, and if I left it to her, she would probably never get an appointment.
And it is me and a million other people … most seniors who did get their appointments, and those who are still waiting, are relying on children and grandchildren to get them these appointments, at least in people I have spoken to.
The younger generations simply have more of a feel for this technology, and honestly, I can’t let my 89 year old mother—who turns 90 in March—to do it all herself, because she doesn’t really understand the nuances of the Internet to begin with.
So what you have is a mess, a mess on Long Island, a mess in New York City, a mess in Westchester, a mess in Rockland … a state-wide mess of major proportions.
There has got to be a better way, and our legislators had better find that better way really soon, because when the general population is in line to get their vaccinations, the proverbial dung will hit the fan if things aren’t cleared up by then, and if you think you have a mess now, you don’t know what a real mess is when younger, healthy people with Internet knowledge up the wazoo can’t get what they want and get it quickly and without any roadblocks in their way.
And we’ve been told by our leaders that the year 2021 is going to be so much better than the year 2020?
Fourteen days into the new year, with all that is going on, I would say that is a debatable proclamation indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.