Getting My Rona Vaccine. Essex County
The O.P. will think on it.
The title and topic dealt with the COMMUNICATION problems from the Essex County.... Text and emails. These still exist.
But I agree, once you are in the building, smooth sailing.
Thank you RHW, I asked for a thread title change weeks ago...what they have been doing there is a GREAT show, way better than other counties I have been trying to help folks with.
sbenois said:
So sorry folks...they just made a change...you can only come in today if your apptment for 2/2 was a second shot. First shots scheduled for 2/2 cannot come in today.
OK, my car battery died, just got back from my mechanic with a new battery and decided to check messages so it worked out. Guess I'll brave the snow tomorrow. My ex will drive me which is only slightly safer than me behind the wheel!
S,
Well, maybe they weren't being strict about it (or had yet changed) when we were there this morning (1st shot vs 2nd shot) as they didn't seem to care at the door and they let us get our first shot.
It was also clear, as we have all heard from elsewhere, that the facility is capable of handling many more people -I presume once they get more vaccine.
In other words: Thank's again dude! -it worked for us!
My second shot was scheduled for Tues, 2/2. Then I got the email postponing it until Sunday. Then I got the email this morning, saying I could come in today.
When I arrived at 2:20pm, the lot was very crowded, which got me worried. I went inside, and the facility was not crowded at all. In fact, I was done in 30 minutes, and that includes the 15 minute period to see if I was going to keel over. I didn’t. 
As before, everyone was exceedingly pleasant and efficient. It’s an amazing operation that they’re running at the old Sears.
Thank You @sbenois for your follow up and the online encouragement for our community! It was a friendly, efficient experience which was exactly what I needed. At the very thought of anything medical, I hyper myself into a frenzy but this made me feel very excited and hopeful.
Morganna said:
Thank You @sbenois for your follow up and the online encouragement for our community! It was a friendly, efficient experience which was exactly what I needed. At the very thought of anything medical, I hyper myself into a frenzy but this made me feel very excited and hopeful.
How did I miss you? I'm crushed.
steel said:
S,
Well, maybe they weren't being strict about it (or had yet changed) when we were there this morning (1st shot vs 2nd shot) as they didn't seem to care at the door and they let us get our first shot.
It was also clear, as we have all heard from elsewhere, that the facility is capable of handling many more people -I presume once they get more vaccine.
In other words: Thank's again dude! -it worked for us!
Glad it worked out. There was some back and forth yesterday on whether the 2/7 (2/2) people could come in and there were a lot of factors in play. Some people whose first shot was scheduled for 2/2 were turned away but all second shot for that day were taken in if they came.
If anyone is scheduled for 2/2 (2/7) and can't make it due to the snow, please do call the hotline number - especially if it is your second shot (note that I do not know if the hotline will be open on Sunday, I assume that it will be but am not sure because Sunday is normally a down day but with the snow...). It is imperative that you come in for that shot quickly despite Mother Nature's apparent desire to snow every time the 2/2 folks are supposed to get their shots.
Honestly it was a pretty intense day yesterday but 1058 people got vaccines and we learned some new things that will allow for more tuning of the factory. I have great confidence that the numbers can scale quite a bit higher and all of that volume was done in about 6 hours elapsed time. Joe D has definitely talked about expanding hours dramatically if he gets more vaccine so if people can just be a bit more patient I think the County is 2-3 weeks (my personal opinion) REALLY cranking this thing up.
One thing I am watching carefully is the fact that the general process for advertising new vaccine slots has been to post them at roughly 8am Monday thru Saturday with the earliest date about 3 weeks out. But three times last week they posted not only the 3 week out date, but they also opened slots 1-2 days out. There are a couple of reasons why this may have happened and my hope is that one is due to more vaccine coming into the pipeline - which would be great news for everyone.
And I remain simply astonished by what the Essex County Health Department has done here. 5 sites for vaccines. More for testing. They are doing their day jobs on top of it. Amazing work led by Maya Lordo.
Best of all, these people are SO dedicated and they have a great ability to learn and act quickly to get this right. The program is better today than it was just a week ago. And a week ago it was way better than two weeks before that.
It's not perfect for sure, but you don't get to a thousand + people a day unless there is a huge team effort and, believe me, this is a great team they've put together.
Got my first dose on Wednesday and it went as smoothly as described. What sbenois wrote above is great to hear and everything else I've read supports the work of the great team described including the volunteers. Joe D., the Health Department and the Sheriff's department all rock. I will think twice before I question the use of county government. Essex County is the poster child for how it can work the best for the most.
sbenois said:
How did I miss you? I'm crushed.
I was looking at name tags and made a point of thanking everyone for volunteering or working there. Sorry I missed you!
Morganna said:
I was looking at name tags and made a point of thanking everyone for volunteering or working there. Sorry I missed you!
He was in the back room updating us on MOL
Jaytee said:
He was in the back room updating us on MOL
No doubt. Meanwhile I suggested to the nice Dr. who gave me a shot, that he volunteer his skills to give distemper vaccines to the new cat and kittens in my rescue. I hate giving them their shots.
I decided to go to Joe D's FB page and leave a thank you. Saw his "thank you to the volunteers" video and shared it on my page. I'm grateful to all who are helping.
And nice to have one of our own MOLers, keeping us up to date!
joan_crystal said:
Phone the essexcovid call center today to verify if the shots scheduled for tomorrow have been rescheduled again and if so what the new date will be.
The people that work the call center were so helpful and nice to deal with.
Morganna said:
No doubt. Meanwhile I suggested to the nice Dr. who gave me a shot, that he volunteer his skills to give distemper vaccines to the new cat and kittens in my rescue. I hate giving them their shots.
I decided to go to Joe D's FB page and leave a thank you. Saw his "thank you to the volunteers" video and shared it on my page. I'm grateful to all who are helping.
And nice to have on of our own MOLers, keeping us up to date!
I could not agree more. MOLers have been so helpful. The scheduling part was stressful - nice to have some hand holding through the process.
With supply apparently increasing (slowly) and J&J supply on the horizon, I'm wondering if anyone has any sense of when NJ will open up the shots to group 1c.
So we opened at 9:01 today rather than 10am to accomodate the people who came early because of the storm. Turns out the the urgent email blast that went out yesterday to 2/2 second shot people telling them to come in asap was extremely effective because we had very few of them today.
Good stuff.
New slots appearing for this Wednesday right now - nothing so far for Sears or Kmart.
sbenois said:
Sears just posted for 2/10 and 3/9
I'm going to search for a spot for my friend's husband tomorrow. They are in Maplewood so I'll try to catch the Sears opening and call her. I'll keep my eye on your thread as well.
Morganna said:
I'm going to search for a spot for my friend's husband tomorrow. They are in Maplewood so I'll try to catch the Sears opening and call her. I'll keep my eye on your thread as well.
If you have his information, you can register him yourself. If you take the time to call and alert her first, the spots may be gone before she can get to her smart device.
From today's Star Ledger:
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Vaccine hotline can now make appointments, state says
After a delay of about a week, New Jersey’s vaccine hotline can be used to make COVID vaccine appointments, Department of Health commissioner Judy Persichilli said at the governor’s Monday coronavirus briefing.
More than 600 people have gotten appointments through the hotline, she said.
Over the weekend, the call center took more than 16,000 calls, she said. It registered 514 people with the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System and made appointments for 286 people.
“They started making first dose appointments last Wednesday,” Persichilli said, noting she wasn’t sure if second dose appointments were being made.
The move comes after complaints from residents who said they have been unable to book a vaccine appointment online, and by others who said they are not computer-savvy enough to compete with more digitally adept people who are able to maneuver through the online system faster to secure appointments before they are snapped up.
The call center, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, can be reached at 855-568-0545.
The hotline started taking calls in January and was able to give general information and help people register for the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System.
By Karin Price Mueller
Sponsored Business
Promote your business here - Businesses get highlighted throughout the site and you can add a deal.
Can the OP please change the title of this thread? The system is working. Most are extemely satisfied.