Information on COVID-19 Vaccine distribution for Mayo Clinic patients

Thanks

Sent you a message!

I have faith that I will receive my second dose of vaccine on 2/8/21, as scheduled.

I have not sent a message to Rochester Mayo (Pulmonology) for quite some time, but I was given the same answer. I am to seek a vaccine through my PCP, who is not affiliated with them; although I have a number of specialists there. Thus, being in a rural area I am presently trying to hold onto optimism about getting the vaccine, but I hear nothing even if I’ve been told I am a “priority.” I stay home and follow all guidelines when needing to go out or see family members in my home that regularly interact in the community. One day at a time...be grateful for each day I have being well and enjoying my life in this “present normal.” Good luck in your journey securing the vaccine and stay safe and well in the meantime😍

@sue6175, how fortunate you are to be receiving your second dose of the vaccine. At my last visit to my PCP, the nurse told me to get on as many lists as I could. Our governor did not issue a state-wide mask mandate. He passed on it and rarely wears a mask himself. He told the counties to do what they wished. Thus far, I have little hope of receiving a vaccine any time soon as he has passed on this responsibility, too. I wonder what his duties are. I have found only one list (by counties) and signed there for both of us. Our vaccination rate is among the lowest in the U.S. It is fortunate that our county and surrounding counties have issued mask requirements. So now it looks like the mayors are in charge. Hmmmmm. What's wrong with this picture? @joybringer1

Don't give up..I got called on a random list I registered for 3 wks. ago today. Get on lots of lists. Its not our Governor, its the contracts the Feds signed that had to be halted and changed when the new admin came in.
It will work for you soon.

@joybringer1, Couldn't agree with you more! Think our gov. may be a clone of yours! Now he's boasting of all he's accomplished despite our state being one of the first to fully re-open and a continuing hot spot for Covid cases. Keep checking those lists and adding to them as you can.

Hi. I just read this post. I have been treated with specialists in Mayo and I cannot get appointments with PCP’s in Mayo because I have Medicare and they are not accepting “new” MC patients. I called the Billing department to look for answers behind this issue. They told me that the waiting list runs for 3 years and they have so many patients that they decided to stop accepting new patients. They said to keep trying because there might be possibilities of changes 😳in accepting new MC patients in the future but didn’t say when this could happen!! So I needed to search for a physician outside Mayo for at least to have a PCP even though I keep with my specialty physicians in Mayo. Hope this helps.

Just a FYI ....I just spoke with my PC office at Mayo in Jacksonville, FL and was told the appointments to receive the vaccine come from the Covid Board that uses an algorithm to pick the patients. The Primary Care have nothing to do with it. As long as you are an active patient you will receive an appointment. Just wish we knew when!

We are losing site of the fact that we even have a Covid vaccine, and that over 7% of the population is already vaccinated in just over one month, is a remarkable feat. Yes, there are glitches. Yes, there is confusion. Yes, we all wish it was faster. None of that is the fault of Mayo, or any other provider - up until now, the states have received an allotment each week (maybe not what was promised) and distributed according to state priorities - with CDC guidance chaging often.

Federal contracts are not paused and renegotiated with each adminstration. The current renegotiation is the new administration trying to secure at least double the number of doses originally ordered (only 200 million were ordered, 600 million doses are needed.) That means negotiating additional contracts, and has zero impact on the original contracts. To date, about 45 million doses have been delivered to the states.

The biggest problem is production - new product, new process, few facilities stood up. The world needs billions of doses.

The second issue is that many states began distribution without regard to how many doses they would have available and/or how explosive the demand would be. They were simply responding to public outcry. If you look at statements made by medical people, not elected officials, going back to last Fall, they told us it would take up to a year to get enough doses of vaccine for everyone in the country.

Finally, the complexity of this is magnified by the need to give everyone 1) 2 doses, 2) of the same vaccine, 3) at the appropriate interval. There is NO centralized or readily available record-keeping system to manage this task, so EVERY facility needs to stand up their own. This should have been under development by the Feds in parallel with the vaccine development by pharmaceutical companies and we wouldn't have this chaos. To expect all 50 states and the territories to do it individually is ludicrous.

The bottom line is, not everyone can be first, or even second or third. It would have been helpful to have a standard, enforced prioritization for vaccine delivery, but that's not the way the Federal government chose to handle it, or anything else related to the pandemic. Now everyone needs to take a deep breath and hope more organization and clarity of information is forthcoming. I hope we may finally be headed in that direction.

Sue