From the darkness of this past year, a vaccine seems to be the light up ahead for many. A million arms are being jabbed a day, but for those whose arms are thirsty for Pfizer’s or Moderna’s cocktail, this winter is proving to be a baffling and frustrating one.
Eligible recipients across the country are all saying the same thing: The vaccine rollout has been disorganized and confusing.
Maybe you camped out overnight in Fort Myers and Daytona Beach to wait for the vaccine when it first became available in Florida. If you tried calling Palm Beach County for an appointment, you had no luck because the county’s phone system “absolutely died,” according to Palm Beach health administrator Dr. Alina Alonso. Other health department offices began using Eventbrite to schedule vaccine appointments because their own websites crashed from the demand.
“I found myself on the computer all day. I feel, emotionally, all stressed out,” Shirley LaBoy, 65, who lives in Florida’s Polk County, told the New York Times. “We are tired of being locked in. Then I get an opportunity to get the vaccine, and I can’t even get that.”
And however it feels on the ground to those queuing up for hours on the sidewalk or on hold, Florida is vaccinating its residents at a better clip than other states. More than 30% of the state’s sizable senior population has been vaccinated already.
Seniors in New York seeking the vaccine are wishing that they had followed their neighbors down to Naples. So far, only 550,000 New York City residents, or 5.4% of the city’s population, have been vaccinated. Everyone knows the vaccine is out there and that old New Yorkers are eligible. But nobody knows how to get it.
Laura Engle, 78, said she tried to make an appointment by using the city’s vaccine finder page, but no one returned her phone calls or emails. She then reached out to a nearby urgent care and was told to wait.
“I’m willing to wait my turn,” she told the New York Times, “but I would like to have some feeling that I have a turn.”
When the tale of the coronavirus vaccine is told, it will need to be two stories. One, set in laboratories and the halls of federal agencies, is a tale of the triumph of modern science. The other, set at millions of dining room tables with a cellphone in hand or a laptop open, is one of endless frustration.
The light is at the end of the tunnel. But nobody can reach it.
