When is it finally my turn, California?
[updated April 6, 2021] Does it feel like everyone you know already got vaccinated except you? Well, that was how I have been feeling. About two weeks ago, one of my friends texted me that she and her husband got vaccinated by just going to their local CVS store in Davis, California, right before the pharmacy was closing, and they just got their shots without any appointments. Just like that! Walked in! No appointments needed! What?!??! How?!??! They explained to me that there were leftover vaccines from the canceled appointments of the day. The pharmacists would administer them to anyone regardless of profession, qualifications, or age (well, above 16).
They got it done about two weeks ago, so I launched into a quest to get myself and my husband a spot! I was in my late 40s and my husband in his early 50s, so we would be far from the list of eligible candidates. So, we were hoping that we could get on the no-questions-asked-leftover-charity-vaccine. However, we both have underlying health conditions me with asthma since my twenties and my husband's heart arrhythmia since he was a teen. It was the first Saturday of March, so I first called my local Palo Alto CVS to check their vaccine cancelation policy. I found out that they just received the vaccine that very morning. They haven't had any canceled vaccines, but they would put me on their “waitlist” if anyone canceled. I asked what number I was on the waitlist and was told I was #60. Thinking that was not a bad spot to be. I spent a whole week calling every CVS, Rite Aid, Safeway within the 25 miles radius. I got #80 for another CVS, but they just got the vaccine last week, and they were only vaccinating people by appointments, and so far, everyone showed up and no cancellations, so they haven’t called anyone on the waitlist yet. The other CVS stores shut down their waitlist because their list was just too long. The pharmacist told me over the phone, “Our list is pages and pages long. There are at least 500–600 people. So, we had to close the list.” List closed! There were 500–600 way smarter and faster than me. Have I been sleepwalking? Where had they been broadcasting this underground speak-easy vaccination scheme?
I went back to check with my friend about her friend who also lived in Palo Alto and got the “walk-in” vaccine. It was the CVS on University Avenue. Great, there was still hope! I called the University Avenue and got this “We had to close our waitlist over the phone. The list was just too long. But if you want to come into the store on Friday, we would only put people down on the waitlist if they show up and signup at the store in person.” So, I did that. I showed up at the store on Friday to put my name on the list onto a yellow legal pad. I was a good ten pages in and somewhere in the middle of the page. I checked with the person who registered me “Name. Phone number. Date of birth.” Maybe this was more legit; they also asked for my birthday. I checked to see when I could possibly get the shot. The clerk flatly said, “At least two months!” Pretty much. Good luck going somewhere else!
Then our other friend, who wasn’t in the medical field but was the main caretaker for the parent, also got the vaccine. Friends with special needs children qualified for the vaccine because they were the child's main caretaker (with a note from the child’s doctor).
So I felt like that kid in Middle School who just found out that everyone got invited to this popular kid’s birthday party except for me. And a few million other Americans without the luck of walking into the store at the right time or have a special need family member. My parents in New York, who are 84, still couldn’t even get vaccinated. I looked up websites after websites, filling out forms after forms still nothing.
We all went from not sure if we wanted to get vaccinated to everyone wanted vaccination. I even considered driving out to a small town and go to that local Pharmacy and campout to get vaccinated. But there still is this pandemic and risk of infection, so who was I kidding?
If it was this hard for me, I’m sure it would also be equally hard and frustrating for many. I listed out all the sites I visited all the forms I filled out below, and I hope it would make the process easier for at least one person.
Find Vaccination locations by Zipcode: www.vaccinateca.com
Starting April 6, anyone 16 years or older (with underlying health conditions) will be eligible to schedule a #COVID19 vaccination appointment at UC Davis Health. https://health.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/my-turn/eligibility-acknowledgement.html
UC Davis Health patients can schedule here: https://ucdavis.health/3sOOR7o
NON-UC Davis Health patients can schedule here: https://ucdavis.health/3mjLItY
Kaiser members vaccine booking link:
or call Kaiser Adult Appointment line (650) 903–3020
https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/northern-california/health-wellness/coronavirus-information/covid-vaccine/vaccination-eligibility
NON-Kaiser members vaccine booking link:
https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/covid-19/not-a-kaiser-permanente-member
Santa Clara County vaccine booking site:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/COVID19-vaccine-information-for-public.aspx#appointment
Los Angeles vaccine booking site:
https://carbonhealth.com/covid-19-vaccines/los-angeles
California Main place to schedule appointments:
myturn.ca.gov and 1–833–422–4255
San Francisco notification when eligible vaccine:
Get a text or email when you are eligible. https://sf.gov/get-notified-when-youre-eligible-covid-19-vaccine
Santa Clara County info on vaccine: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/COVID19-vaccine-information-for-public.aspx#myturn
Santa Clara County COVID-19 Cases Count Snapshot:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/dashboard.aspx
Sign up to volunteer at My Turn — Volunteer: (As a volunteer, you would qualify for the vaccine) https://myturnvolunteer.ca.gov/s/landing
After a week of dead ends, I heard Biden’s speech about getting everyone vaccinated by May 1. I was hopeful. I also read that they would open up more on March 15. So, on Tuesday, March 16, around 9:00 am, I saw a notification in my email inbox that I had “A new message from Kaiser Permanente.” I opened my Kaiser app on my phone to check my messages and found a message with the subject heading “Covid Vaccine Eligibility” from my primary care doctor. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I certainly was hopeful that it meant what I think it meant.
I looked at the content of the email and clicked on the first link in the email to “register on MyTurn.ca.gov to be notified of appointments at vaccination hubs open to the public, including Kaiser Permanente members, outside of our system.” I went through the form to Register and Check Eligibility
A new section for health condition I saw “Chronic pulmonary disease, oxygen dependent.” I know that I have chronic pulmonary disease with my asthma, but I wasn’t oxygen dependent. I selected “Yes” anyway to see where it led me.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I landed on the page that said, “Congratulations! You are eligible.”
I put in Palo Alto zip code, then selected the closest location, Safeway Pharmacy #1682 and clicked “Checked location availability.”
The Albertson Pharmacy Covid-19 Vaccination site came on and asked me to put in a zip code to search nearby pharmacies. I selected 50 miles radius to make sure I get all the possible locations.
I selected Two Dose COVID Vaccine Appt — Dose 1, and I was presented with the location and a calendar to select the date. But all the dates were greyed out for March. I forward over to April, and still, all the dates greyed out. I clicked May, and a message appeared “Currently only two months availabilities are allowed for COVID Vaccine Dose Appointment.”
There was NO AVAILABILITY! for March and April. I called up the store and talked with the pharmacist, and they said that they didn’t even have the vaccine in the store. Therefore, there were no appointments available. It was premature of the myturn.ca.gov website to have put their pharmacy in there. I asked when will they expect to get the vaccine, and they had no idea!
I went down the list from myturn.ca.gov eligibility and called every single location within 50 miles, and still, no one had the vaccine, or no one knew when they would get the vaccine. I called some of the CVS pharmacies, and I checked back with the CVS that I was waitlisted #60 to see where I was in the line. They said they had called at most 4 people from the waitlist total. Most people showed up for the appointment. I asked them how many shots do they administer a day. They said about 15 shots a day. Fifteen shots a day! My number 60 was now looking more like two to three months down the road.
I went back to Find Vaccination locations by Zipcode: www.vaccinateca.com and punched in my zip code to find all the Point of Distribution (POD) and went down the list to call. No appointments.
I went back to the Kaiser website and noticed the small pop-up window about COVID-19 vaccination. I clicked on the www.kp.org/covidvaccine link and it took me to a page with the latest updates and the Search for a vaccination appointment again pointed me to https://myturn.ca.gov/ to check my eligibility.
I was tired and deflated after almost four hours of calling and refreshing screens using two laptops. It was towards the end of the day, so I decided to call the Kaiser Appointment line and asked for help to figure out how to book a vaccine appointment. Maybe they could direct me. I called this number twice last week, and every time I punched in my Kaiser medical record number to book a vaccine appointment, I got a prompt that said that I wasn’t eligible and then got kicked off the line. But this time, after I put in my medical record number, I got to hold music. I didn’t get the “you’re not eligible” greeting. I was on hold for about 40 minutes before someone picked up. After the verification questions: medical record number, name, dob, phone number, address, the nice lady said, “Yes. From our record, it looks like you’re eligible for the vaccine.” I really couldn’t believe what I just heard. I saw it on the myturn.ca.gov website but thought it was a fluke, but for someone who actually said it, I was still in shock and was ready to unload the last 4 hours of unproductive frustration on her, but I held it together and simply asked, “So, how do I get the vaccine?”
She replied, “You could get it at our location.” What?!??! Come again?!?!?
I repeated, “At a Kaiser location?”
She confirmed “Yes.” and follow up with, “So, when would you like the appointment?”
I was still shocked and blurted, “When is the earliest appointment I could get?” I was thinking two to three weeks. I was ok with that as long as I could get an appointment. I would be happy that I won’t have to call any more pharmacies.
She said, “We have something tomorrow morning or afternoon for the following day.” I couldn’t believe she said tomorrow morning.
I jumped at, “Tomorrow morning, please.”
“Does 10:00 am work for you?”
“Yes, 10:00 am is great.”
“Would you like an email or text confirmation?”
“Text confirmation. And is it possible for you to book for my husband as well?”
“Sure, What is his medical record number?”
I gave her my husband’s number, and she checked that he was also eligible and booked him an appointment for 10:05 am.
I couldn’t believe that after 40 minutes on hold and 15 minutes on the phone later, I was able to book appointments for both my husband and me through Kaiser. It was so easy and organized. But it was not written anywhere to call the appointment line to book. In the main Kaiser email, the first link was myturn.ca.gov, and no Kaiser link or number to call.
Until we got to the vaccination site and got the vaccines, I was still unsure that we actually got the appointments and that we would actually get vaccinated.
It is a frustrating road, but I hope it will get easier each day and that more vaccines are available for everyone. I’m thankful that we switched over to Kaiser on January 1, 2021, and my whole family got our physical done and our medical records updated. I’m thankful that our primary care doctor knew our conditions and was proactive in letting us know about our eligibility. I’m also thankful for my book club for having an outdoor gathering recently that I was outside for two hours in the cold that my asthma flared up. I didn’t know that it was asthma and thought I had covid, even though I haven’t even been anywhere, not even grocery shopping. With shortness of breath and dry cough, I freaked out. My doctor reassured me that it wasn’t covid that he had seen a rising number of people with asthma and allergies flare up, which prompted me to ask my doctor if I might be qualified for high risks. He said with my condition and my husband’s heart condition, we both would most likely qualify. It was in the system, and when we became eligible, we would get notified, and we did.
We are vaccinated, but I don’t feel like we finally got invited to the popular kid’s party but knowing that we belong to a caring community at Kaiser.
