Yeah, the DSHS says distribution to 1B eligible recipients is at the discretion of the provider, which I think is ridiculous.

But, at least this gives people a place to start looking/calling.

My sis in law has called every place in the county and most now just have recordings saying they are not taking phone inquiry.

My parents live in Salado and got on the list at the Brookshire's there. They haven't gotten called to come get the vaccine yet,no clue on number of folks on the list. They got 500 doses initially.

She says she tried to call Brookshires and gets a recording saying they are not taking phone calls. Due to my brother's risk factors, she also does not go into stores, but I am thinking she may have to walk in to get on the lists. I wonder if someone could go do it for them. I am going to suggest she see if their grandson could do it..

The brooks hires pharmacy in se Tx where a family member lives was taking names to put on a waiting list for the vaccine this Tuesday. On Thursday they called with an appointment date to get the shot mid January.

By Thursday they were no longer adding names to the list. I think they have stores throughout East Tx.

Why most other pharmacies are not making appointments I don't know.

Every Brookshires is handling it differently. We called at least ten of them on Wednesday. Some had recordings. Some had store managers answering. Some had exhausted pharmacy techs answering.
Some said they had no room left on their list. Otters said they had no vaccine and no list.
It was clearly not coordinated at the corporate level.

That website is beyond useless. It says nothing on eligibility or availability and is causing phone lines to jam up into these sites thinking you have to call in to get scheduled at a piggly wiggly.

culdeus said:

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That website is beyond useless. It says nothing on eligibility or availability and is causing phone lines to jam up into these sites thinking you have to call in to get scheduled at a piggly wiggly.

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The DSHS website says people who meet 1A and 1B criteria are eligible, but it also says distribution is at the discretion of each site/provider.

The problem isn't the website, it's that DSHS isn't providing any guidance to the distributors. If people who meet 1B criteria are eligible, then the individual providers should not be able to turn those people away.

Hopefully, as time passes and more vaccines are distributed, the process will get better. But as of right now, the only option is to call the locations that pop up on that map (assuming you can get through) or go visit them in person.

I think this lack of coordination and poor communication is ultimately going to result in a lot of wasted vaccine and a lot of people - especially those who are 65+ - saying "Eff it - this is too complicated!" and not getting vaccinated at all.

Here is some additional info, if you're hoping to get vaccinated at HEB.

https://newsroom.heb.com/covid-19-vaccine/

It hasn't been updated since December 30, but basically it says they are not accepting walk-ins. They hope to have a website set up soon so people can schedule appointments online.

From the website, it sounds like they didn't receive enough vaccine in the first distribution to be able to offer them to anyone but health care providers.

Talked to my parents this AM, she talked to them yesterday and said they were still working through healthcare works but expected To start on 1b's later this week. Pharmacist said they had quite a few HC workers driving in to get vaccinated.

Ill be getting mine at heb. If you are near the conroe area feel free to dm me and i can help with any info i have.

A lot depends on the location of the pharmacy and number of healthcare professionals seeking the vaccine. The more urban pharmacies are finishing up 1A while the rural sites finished the few HCPs in their town the first day and moved onto 1B.

As the waiting list size exceeds the current allocation by a certain number, the pharmacies stop making appointments/adding to the wait list.

There will be a link made available so the public can schedule their own appointment, but it's not practical at the moment due to the uncertainty of future allocation sizes and delivery times.

This is spot on IMO. I'm in Bell County. We have an enormous hospital system relative to our size, so healthcare is using all the allotments. It doesn't matter if statewide goes to 1B if there aren't enough shots to go around. My dad is in Nacogdoches. He's 66 and got in last week just by calling. It's just going to depend on your area.

My daughter who works with Covid patients daily still hasn't had the vaccine.

BCR said:

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My daughter who works with Covid patients daily still hasn't had the vaccine.

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I want the vaccine as soon as possible but those working with Covid patients need to get vaccinated ASAP. I can hide out in my cave a little longer.

Where is she located?

Hospital in the Dallas area. Can't do specifics.

If you are a patient at UT southwestern in Dallas and qualify for 1B, they started opening up appointments today. All you have to do is check your MyChart.

I still can't find any way to get my 89 year old mom vacinated in Dallas. I signed her up for some county website. I've messaged her doctor. I've called pharmacies on the county website. No luck getting an appointment or any information.

I was just able to make an appointment with Memorial Hermann in greater heights to get my first dose. Apparently the 1As aren't showing up so they have a lot of unused doses and opened up to community scheduling. Just crazy. Came from word of mouth. I signed up for 1/18 at 10:45 and by the time I got my info in it went to 12:45. Appts we're going quick.

Collin County wait list went live today.

https://apps2.collincountytx.gov/Forms/VaccineRequest

Kroger is making appointments online. You might have to try a few stores, but I was able to get appointments for two uncles and an aunt in Rockwall tonight.

You won't see Covid listed on the list of vaccine choices. Choose "Other (travel)" then type in Covid. If appointments are available at your chosen location, the available dates will appear.

Good luck!!

See my post re: Kroger just above this one.

You sure you can get the COVID vaccine that way just by typing it in? I don't see any indication on their website that you are to manually type in "COVID".

https://newsroom.heb.com/covid-19-vaccine/

I know multiple people who got appointments that way.
It's at the end of the vaccine list.
You have to choose a location first.

I did that, but when I verified with the pharmacy they said the are only doing healthcare providers.

same here, I signed an older relative up. They called to ask if you were in 1A. If not, appointment canceled.

I was just coming here to post that all of the people who were able to register last night were cancelled today
It's even more discouraging because I'd had a crap day yesterday and helping some seniors feel hopeful was an incredible way to end the day.
Then today, that good deed crashed and burned.

McKinney Ag said:

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Collin County wait list went live today.

https://apps2.collincountytx.gov/Forms/VaccineRequest

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I'm #53,156!

I got the call from Tarrant County last night and now have had Moderna 1. Their system is working quite well. It took about a week from sign up to appointment.

Arlington police and fire are operating the center and it runs smoothly.

cc_ag92 said:

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I was just coming here to post that all of the people who were able to register last night were cancelled today
It's even more discouraging because I'd had a crap day yesterday and helping some seniors feel hopeful was an incredible way to end the day.
Then today, that good deed crashed and burned.

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I thought we had lucked in to a good thing too with getting an appointment at memorial hermann. They called and asked me if i was an "established patient" (only visited the burn center for a nasty 2nd degree) and if I was over 65. No on both so they canceled my appointment and promptly hung up on me. Same thing for my wife.

When I signed up a few days ago I also signed up my parents. Both over 65. I had my parents call ahead to the MH Greater Heights to verify their appointment and the person they talked to was very nice and explained that they sent special appt links to their phase 1A frontline workers and established patients that met 1A or 1B. Turns out they would then send the links to their family/friends who would then sign up and then pass on the link. That's how I got to make the appt. thankfully they didn't cancel my parents appt even though they are 1B.

This whole rollout is such a mess. No one hospital system does it the same. I have more faith in H-E-B to rollout the vaccine than I do a large medical system like Methodist or MH.

Why can't county health take it over in the Houston area like they have in Tarrant County? It is really running smoothly. I think Dallas County is starting the same type of thing, with large testing centers, next week.

The center I was sent to did 1500 a day. Very smoothly now. Firefighter told me the first few days had snags, but they reflected and made changes each day, and now they really have the process down.