Public health, American-style: Donuts at the vaccine clinic

by philg

Public Health 101: When confronted with a virus that attacks the obese and unfit, lock people next to their refrigerators for a year.

Public Health 102: When the local government runs a COVID vaccine clinic, make sure that it is amply supplied with donuts.

From a town-run COVID-19 vaccine clinic in the Boston suburbs:

Readers might reasonably ask how many of these health-enhancing items I consumed personally. Answer: zero. I was merely there as driver for a 92-year-old and therefore did not feel that I had earned one. Separately, what’s the process for becoming a volunteer driver in our all-white all-heterosexual town? Look for the rainbow flag and “Black History Month” stickers to find the “Council on Aging” door. Knock and receive a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) form to fill out and also a form in which one must supply one’s pronouns and gender ID.

The vaccination process itself was efficient. We arrived at 11:55 am for a noon appointment and were fully checked out by 12:25 pm. My old-but-fit neighbor noted that she hated wearing a mask, but otherwise was happy with her experience.

Readers: Who has vaccination stories to share?

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8 thoughts on “Public health, American-style: Donuts at the vaccine clinic”

  1. Where I live in the south/central part of MA, we are still trying to get an appointment for my 76 year-old father, 74 year old mother and myself. I am well under 65 but have (at present) two comorbidities that qualify me under Tier 2, Group 2. We have been completely on our own, going on hearsay and tips, and using the list on the MA portal, trying to get signed up.

    At least my health care system has improved its messaging! Their portal (where you go to schedule appointments and track messages and reminders) now states:

    “Due to high demand and limited vaccine supply, we ask that you do not contact your [System] Health provider with any COVID-19 vaccine scheduling questions or needs. As vaccine supply becomes available we will actively notify patients who meet the current eligibility requirements.”

    That’s a big improvement from a week ago, when the message was that they didn’t have any plan to distribute vaccine, and told you not to call or message anyone. Now they’re saying they’ll start notifying people “when vaccine supply becomes available.”

    In the meantime we’re trying through the MASS.GOV portal have not been able to obtain an appointment yet. I’ve filled out several online forms and am waiting to be contacted.

  2. It’s been quite an interesting free-for-all here in Colorado. So many entities, especially with pharmacies now getting vaccines, and of course EVERYONE has a different web page, etc.

    A friend of mine put together a webpage that is a good place to start: https://silgro.com/CovidResources.htm. He spends time updating it manually. We have chatted among ourselves about building a program to go out and find all the open appointments, but someone did it! https://vaccine-finder.nickm.org/

    What we are finding is one has to be aggressive in pursuing and watching for openings, and then jump on them. A very strange way to do health care for sure. Several entities (Larimer County, our major hospital system, etc) all have sign-ups in which they say they will contact you, but so far that has not worked very well amongst our circle of friends.

    Anyway my friend texted me early in the morning when he was perusing the sites, and Banner had openings. I quickly got on-line and got an appointment. I think the vaccination process was well done, and I was in and out in 20 minutes. But no donuts or refreshments 😢

    • Or a House Hunters-style reality TV show! A couple tours around different clinics offering the vaccine to decide which one to get their shot at. They rate the amenities, such as free donuts, and also consider factors like how long it will likely take for that clinic to have any vaccine inventory. At the end of each episode we see them smiling while getting their shot. The producers should be able to get federal funding for encouraging vaccination.

    • @Philg: They couldn’t get their database-backed website to work! Crash! Crash! [Gulp].

      “PrepMod, the Maryland-based company that runs the booking portion of the state’s vaccination site, on Thursday. PrepMod issued a statement on Friday taking “full responsibility” for crashes that lasted most of the day that more than 1 million state residents became newly eligible for the vaccine.”

      Who supplies PrepMod? Who are PrepMod?

      From Wikipedia:

      “PrepMod is a web application for vaccine management that helps vaccinators process patients and data.[1] It is developed by Maryland Partnership for Prevention, a non-profit organisation in Massachusetts, USA.[1] PrepMod co-ordinates waiting lists and inventory as well as sends email proof of vaccinations to patients.[2]”

      Nonprofit/NGO out of Owings Mills! They have a Facebook page!

      https://www.facebook.com/MarylandPartnershipforPrevention/

    • Looks like a mom-and-pop shop out of Owings Mills is running the vaccine signup for most of the United States, with Illustrious Potentate names like these:

      https://www.immunizemaryland.org/about-us/

      Bobbi Alexander
      Claire Hannan
      Lorraine Quarrick
      Jacqueline Richter
      Tiffany Tate

      I wonder what Bobbi and Claire and Lorraine and Jacqueline and Tiffany have their degrees in?

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