I'm scheduled for shot 2 on Jan 26.  If there is solid science backing substantial effectiveness of the first shot with some decent duration of protection, even if less than 2 shots, I'd be in favor of delaying the 2nd shot so that more people can get it.  Right now, the people in the know seem to be all over the place about this, with most of it being speculation.

bub said:

I'm scheduled for shot 2 on Jan 26.  If there is solid science backing substantial effectiveness of the first shot with some decent duration of protection, even if less than 2 shots, I'd be in favor of delaying the 2nd shot so that more people can get it.  Right now, the people in the know seem to be all over the place about this, with most of it being speculation.

 Unless there is a second blind study, the deciders will decide, based on nuthin' but speculation. 

The latest Jersey vaccine info:

Gov Cuomo announced that 65 and over NY residents are now eligible to receive the vaccine. NY has moved to CDC category 1C.

Whereas NJ is still 1A. Not even the 75 and older can get it in NJ.

What gives? Do NJ Trenton politicians care? Maybe not. Being eligible they have no worries.

https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1349036934287536128

NJ is at least partly into 1b, with cops and firemen getting the shots.

"The Trump administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines that expand coronavirus vaccine eligibility to everyone age 65 and older as well as to those with comorbid conditions, like diabetes.

The states’ focus on vaccinating health-care workers and nursing homes has created a bottleneck, a senior administration official told CNBC, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of the formal announcement.

“The states are being told immediately they need to expand to 65-plus as well as those under 65 with comorbid conditions,” the official said.

The administration will also stop holding back millions of doses reserved for the second round of shots of Pfizer and Moderna’s two-dose vaccines, the official said, adding they released doses that had been held in reserve on Sunday."

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/12/covid-vaccine-trump-administration-to-expand-eligibility-to-everyone-65-and-older.html

eta - I'm 79 and in 1b - I hope NJ follows the new guidelines. 

jamie said:

The latest Jersey vaccine info:

According to the CDC, our state has received 654,900 doses.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations

New Jersey has only administered only 36% of the vaccine doses that it has received.

The CDC has issued new guidelines that says people down through group 1C should get the vaccine now.

Somewhere in this thread or a similar one, someone (Spontaneous?) may  have said vaccine centers set 250 appointments per day. Since there’s a limited number of centers, I assume that caps how many shots are administered/day. Though an Essex County resident told me yesterday there’s a feature whereby county residents can get on a waitlist and if there are extra doses at the end of the day, they are contacted, and some folks have gotten shots that way. I didn’t think to ask whether you have to be 1a or 1b to get on the wait list. But I assume so. 

Floyd said:

Gov Cuomo announced that 65 and over NY residents are now eligible to receive the vaccine. NY has moved to CDC category 1C.

Whereas NJ is still 1A. Not even the 75 and older can get it in NJ.

What gives? Do NJ Trenton politicians care? Maybe not. Being eligible they have no worries.

https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1349036934287536128

 NY is moving to phase 1C without completing vaccinations for persons in 1A and 1B who want to receive the vaccine.  This is problematic when the plan is to offer the vaccine in order of risk of infection.  Should a 65 year old with no underlying health conditions who has been self isolating since March get the vaccine before a health care worker who is treating COVID - 19 patients? A reputable news report this morning stated that appointments in NY for the vaccine are now full through April (target date for vaccinating 1C in NJ).  It has also been announced that NY does not currently have enough vaccine to meet the demand from all those in Phase 1 who are now eligible to receive the vaccination.  Which state's plan do you prefer?

Gov. Murphy will be on CNBC shortly to discuss how N.J.'s vaccine program is going. 

He just said that N.J. will be announcing today or tomorrow that people 65+ are now eligible . He said people 65+ can expect be vaccinated in 6-8 weeks.

Heynj said:

Somewhere in this thread or a similar one, someone (Spontaneous?) may  have said vaccine centers set 250 appointments per day. Since there’s a limited number of centers, I assume that caps how many shots are administered/day. Though an Essex County resident told me yesterday there’s a feature whereby county residents can get on a waitlist and if there are extra doses at the end of the day, they are contacted, and some folks have gotten shots that way. I didn’t think to ask whether you have to be 1a or 1b to get on the wait list. But I assume so. 

 It was Michael Goldberg who mentioned the limit of 250 appointments per day.

I’m assuming that the limit is due to the need for social distancing even when giving the vaccine.  

I believe there was also mention of at least one day where multiple people who were scheduled had accidentally signed up for multiple slots, so they weren’t even able to vaccinate 250 people that day.  Hopefully the website is fixed so glitches like that do not happen again.   

OK, I'm registered. NEXT???

-s.

soda said:

OK, I'm registered. NEXT???

-s.

 Now you wait.  How long is anyone’s guess.

soda said:

OK, I'm registered. NEXT???

-s.

Next you wait to receive an email telling you that your group has become eligible.  Included will be a list of vaccination sites within twenty-five miles of your home and hopefully contact information so you can schedule an appointment.  As above poster said, this could take a while.

Regarding seniors being reached for shot eligibility, seniors have been divided into two groups: Phase 1B (75+) and Phase 1C (65 - 74).  I have heard (no substantiation) that seniors with underlying health conditions who would otherwise be in phase 1C have been moved to phase 1B.  I assume any announcement regarding seniors being reached to register for appointments would be for those in group 1B.  Even then, it could be a while before appointments become available for 1B seniors.  

As per above, Murphy said 6 to 8 weeks.  It doesn't sound like other people in Group 1 who have received or will receive the first shot are going to have their 2nd shot delayed to speed up the rollout to 65plus people.  We'll see. 

spontaneous said:

Heynj said:

Somewhere in this thread or a similar one, someone (Spontaneous?) may  have said vaccine centers set 250 appointments per day. Since there’s a limited number of centers, I assume that caps how many shots are administered/day. Though an Essex County resident told me yesterday there’s a feature whereby county residents can get on a waitlist and if there are extra doses at the end of the day, they are contacted, and some folks have gotten shots that way. I didn’t think to ask whether you have to be 1a or 1b to get on the wait list. But I assume so. 

 It was Michael Goldberg who mentioned the limit of 250 appointments per day.

I’m assuming that the limit is due to the need for social distancing even when giving the vaccine.  

I believe there was also mention of at least one day where multiple people who were scheduled had accidentally signed up for multiple slots, so they weren’t even able to vaccinate 250 people that day.  Hopefully the website is fixed so glitches like that do not happen again.   

 The limit of 250 was simply due to to the limited supply (as of 2 weeks ago)

There was no waitlist for extra doses at the end of the day, but I think there should be.  I think they are now using the volunteers as the defacto list of people for extra doses. 

What the **** is up with this delay.  People want this vaccine, yet it is not being administered anywhere nearly as fast as it should be.  I can’t find the numbers, but I’ve seen a few articles saying that New Jersey is lagging behind other states in getting vaccines into people.

Murphy needs to wake the f*** up. Our state is going to get screwed out of vaccine supply if we don't improve our utilization of what has been sent.

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/01/13/new-vaccine-plan-looks-to-reward-more-efficient-states-with-more-doses/

New vaccine plan looks to reward more efficient states with more doses

The outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has switched up the federal government’s approach to vaccine distribution. It’s making more people eligible for the shot now, and states will get more vaccine doses if they are more successful getting it into people.

Azar was critical of the way some states are distributing vaccines. The new approach looks to reward those states that are the most efficient by giving them more doses.

“The reasons why a state might be slow in its vaccine rollout is not something that can be cured by changing the incentives on how many future doses they’re going to get,” said Josh Michaud, a director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Azar said states have two weeks to ramp up distribution and reporting to meet the new standards.

The guy has a job for another week, no?  Can't take his 2 week ultimatum very seriously. 

My understanding is that the reason they are no longer holding back second doses is that manufacturing has ramped up to the point where they are confident that the second doses will be available at the time they are needed. I have not heard any recommendation to delay second doses in order to give more first doses.  Did anyone actually say that?

I also understand that a lot of NJ's yet to be administered doses have already been earmarked for people living in congregate settings and that administration of those doses will commence imminently.

Steve said:

I also understand that a lot of NJ's yet to be administered doses have already been earmarked for people living in congregate settings and that administration of those doses will commence imminently.

 People are dying every day, why haven’t they been administered yet?

If I had a loved one in a nursing home who came down with Covid after not receiving the vaccine WEEKS after the state received it, I’d be pissed as all hell.

People are being told to wait because 1a needs to get their vaccines first, but 1a is still waiting while vials are just sitting in freezers waiting.

They were up to 350 appointments a day about a week ago.  Plan is to go to 500 and then 1000.    I will be there tomw to get the latest.

I'm over 65 and filled out the information on EssexCOVID.org and picked a date, Jan 21 at Livingston. I received an email requesting that I confirm my email address and when I confirmed it a message appeared that said my information would be reviewed and I would be receiving further information, or something like that - no confirmation of my date. Is that the way it works? Do I just go to Livingston Mall on Jan. 21? 

cramer said:

I'm over 65 and filled out the information on EssexCOVID.org and picked a date, Jan 21 at Livingston. I received an email requesting that I confirm my email address and when I confirmed it a message appeared that said my information would be reviewed and I would be receiving further information, or something like that - no confirmation of my date. Is that the way it works? Do I just go to Livingston Mall on Jan. 21? 

 That appears to be the experience that JerseyJack had.  He received his confirmation text AFTER he had already gone to his appointment.  You don't want to show up if you don't have an appointment, but at the same time people appear to be getting appointments without being notified that they are confirmed.

spontaneous said:

cramer said:

I'm over 65 and filled out the information on EssexCOVID.org and picked a date, Jan 21 at Livingston. I received an email requesting that I confirm my email address and when I confirmed it a message appeared that said my information would be reviewed and I would be receiving further information, or something like that - no confirmation of my date. Is that the way it works? Do I just go to Livingston Mall on Jan. 21? 

 That appears to be the experience that JerseyJack had.  He received his confirmation text AFTER he had already gone to his appointment.  You don't want to show up if you don't have an appointment, but at the same time people appear to be getting appointments without being notified that they are confirmed.

Thanks.  I thought that was JerseyJack's exeperience. 

I just tried to register again, figuring it was a good way to see if I was registered. I got the following message, which says I may not get the date that I requested. I thought it was a little bit  remarkable that I was able to get an appointment so fast. 

eta - "Based on our records,  _____ has already submitted a survey. Vaccination eligibility is based on the guidelines set forth by the NJ Department of Health. We will contact you via email when your appointment is scheduled. Please be advised that the appointment you receive may not be on the date you requested due to availability. Thank you in advance for your patience."

News good and bad:

"People who have already contracted coronavirus are as protected against reinfection as those who have received the best Covid-19 vaccines, according to a survey of 20,000 UK healthcare workers, the largest study in the world so far."

Based upon things I read earlier, I have been saying that an approved J&J vaccine would be a game changer because of J&J's ability to produce a lot of the vaccine quickly.  It seems, however, that J&J is lagging behind its contractual commitment.  It will only produce "single digit" millions of doses by the end of February.

On the other hand, Moderna seems confident that its production is speeding up. I don't know about Pfizer.

350 today

Thanks Gov. Murphy for really sticking it to me.  I am over 75 and was earlier reclassified upward to 1B from 1C.  But when you opened the 1B category for vaccinations, you left me, and all the others like me, not eligible, out of the deal, in the cold.  So now you open up to 65 and older and 18 and older with medical conditions.  Instead of being in the line of my proper classification, now the floodgates are opened up and I have to compete with many 1C eligibles for an appointment.  Good going, gov.  What the hell good did my 1B status do?  You have effectively downgraded what had been upgraded.  Remember gov. I am a voter.  So I called the telephone number and was told all appointments until Jan. 22 are filled, call back later.  Wonderful!

Also  when I registered online earlier for an appointment there was no way to indicate my preferred appointment date.  All I got is a message that I am registered, no date indicated.  Did I miss out, or is this a question that is still to come, does anyone know?