Information on COVID-19 Vaccine distribution for Mayo Clinic patients

For Mayo Clinic Patients:
The COVID-19 pandemic has made this a trying year for everyone. But there is good news to report.

An effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine is available now, and other COVID-19 vaccines will be coming soon. These vaccines have been tested under strict guidelines. Studies show that the first vaccine available, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and the next vaccine likely to be available, the Moderna vaccine, are 95% and 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19.

Like many, you may have questions about these vaccines. This COVID-19 vaccine educational flyer will answer some of your questions. Be sure to follow Mayo Podcasts for up to the minute news about vaccination, COVID and more.

Mayo Clinic is working with other health care organizations, and state and federal authorities, to prepare for the fair and safe distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. But it will take some time to vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

The first people who will be offered vaccination for COVID-19 are those with the highest risk of getting infected: front-line health care workers and adults in long-term care facilities. As more COVID-19 vaccines become available, more people will be offered vaccinations.

We will continue to share with you information about COVID-19 vaccines on our COVID-19 information hub and on Mayo Clinic News Network's COVID page. Mayo Clinic patients can expect emails from their care teams and see updates on Patient Online Services, Mayo's patient portal, about scheduling vaccination appointments at Mayo Clinic.

While COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing COVID-19, you should continue to follow other prevention protocols already in place:

  • Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth.
  • Stay at least 6 feet apart from other people.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer with at least 70% alcohol.

Mayo Clinic believes that COVID-19 vaccines will be effective in preventing COVID-19. When you are eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19, we encourage you to schedule a vaccination appointment. Follow news from your state and local health authorities for further information.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.

@johnbishop

@baq315a, I'm not sure what is official Mayo policy on accepting new Medicare patients but here is what their website says...

- Medicare - https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare
- More about Medicare: https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare/more-on-medicare
- You can find out more about billing and insurance at Mayo Clinic here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare/more-on-medicare

Have you tried calling the billing office for one of the Mayo Clinic locations?

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Thanks

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@ess77

Hello, seaspray. (a 'beachy? I'm in SS) The Mayo Jax Covid Task Force notified me on the online patient portal to make an appt for the vaccine. I got it a couple of weeks ago. I hope to get the 2nd shot Feb 3. if available. Like you, my only non-Mayo doc is my PCP. The same issue re Medicare. Really mucks up the works for me and smooth care w/clear, easy communication, but....I hope the Clinic will soon change this policy, It will help a lot of us.

But, till then, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to see the doctors I do. They have truly saved me from tougher times with this aging body! I don't have many things that aren't great to say about that place. But, this is an area I do hope they can address.

I hope and pray Jax gets more vaccines asap and we can all move forward....I wouldn't think of going to Regency at all! For me, standing in line with a bunch of folks for anything with what we're dealing with isn't on my agenda! I feel the same re the Mandarin site....I'm thankful for Mayo, but have been surprised they haven't led the way here. In JAX, the Baptist Health roll-out has been far from stellar. There's been almost zero info from them w/no patient vaccines as far as I've seen.

Nice chatting w/you, neighbor. Enjoy that ocean! Blessings. elizabeth

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Sent you a message!

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

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@naiviv

I am a Mayo Clinic patient too but because I have Medicare no Internal Medicine doctor or Primary doctor in Mayo Clinic Florida is accepting new patients who have Medicare. I have been treated by the Spine Center doctors since 2020 but when I called them they don’t have information about the Covid vaccine and was told to call my PCP. I have a PCP outside Mayo Clinic now but they don’t have the vaccine and probably won’t have it. The FL Health Dept stopped offering the vaccines. Publix grocery stores have started in many counties except Duval County where Mayo Clinic is located. The Regency Mall in Jacksonville FL looks like a rodeo where you see crowds impossible to get through. Long lines of elderly people exposed to the inclements of weather since at this time of the year it can get cold here in Jacksonville. So how Mayo Clinic will treat the rest of the 65 + years old patients remaining who are being treated by other specialists in Mayo Clinic who don’t have a Mayo PCP? We are under the requirements to be able to get it. By the way, I understand high risk patients and healthcare staff are a priority and that there are 4 Phases to get it but what Category or Phase do we fit in? Thanks

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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😍

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@sue6175

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

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@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

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@migizii

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😍

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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.

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@joybringer1

@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

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@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.

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@johnbishop

@baq315a, I'm not sure what is official Mayo policy on accepting new Medicare patients but here is what their website says...

- Medicare - https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare
- More about Medicare: https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare/more-on-medicare
- You can find out more about billing and insurance at Mayo Clinic here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/patient-visitor-guide/billing-insurance/insurance/accepted-insurance/medicare/more-on-medicare

Have you tried calling the billing office for one of the Mayo Clinic locations?

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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.

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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!

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@jeanne5009

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.

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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

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