Getting My Rona Vaccine. Essex County

I jut got the sense that people "nudged" to push their registration over the top.  Wrong I guess. We're not up in arms about it.  My wife is calm.   Everyone wants sooner rather than later.  I hope that having registered on the earlyish side, it's a first registered first scheduled system once they get past the current priority groups.

bub said:

I jut got the sense that people "nudged" to push their registration over the top.  Wrong I guess. We're not up in arms about it.  My wife is calm.   Everyone wants sooner rather than later.  I hope that having registered on the earlyish side, it's a first registered first scheduled system once they get past the current priority groups.

 The county registration or the state one?  The state one does not put you on any lists, it just tells you if you’re eligible or not.  The county one you keep trying until it shows an available date, or at least that is how it worked for family members who were able to get appointments.

spontaneous said:

bub said:

I jut got the sense that people "nudged" to push their registration over the top.  Wrong I guess. We're not up in arms about it.  My wife is calm.   Everyone wants sooner rather than later.  I hope that having registered on the earlyish side, it's a first registered first scheduled system once they get past the current priority groups.

 The county registration or the state one?  The state one does not put you on any lists, it just tells you if you’re eligible or not.  The county one you keep trying until it shows an available date, or at least that is how it worked for family members who were able to get appointments.

 But ... as I understand it, you cannot get very far in the county one until you are actually eligible and then only if there are appointments available, right?  

When you say keep trying, do you mean repeatedly re registering or somehow signing in and checking on your existing registration?  

bub said:

When you say keep trying, do you mean repeatedly re registering or somehow signing in and checking on your existing registration?  

 I have no idea, I am not eligible for the Essex County system.  My mother is and said after multiple visits to the website she was able to get an appointment.  I will ask her for details.

Bub-go to this website:

https://www.essexcovid.org/

That is where (assuming you are 65 plus OR have a medical condition that puts you at high risk) you can schedule an appt for the vax.

You will fill out some info. I think you need insurance card. Then you will get to a section where you will see what appointments are currently available.

When people say “keep trying,” they mean that there may not be any appts available the first time you try. Essex County is adding appts in line with the expected vaccine availability. Neither Essex nor the NJ site will alert you when appointments become available.

Thanks all.

sac said:

 But ... as I understand it, you cannot get very far in the county one until you are actually eligible and then only if there are appointments available, right?  

 You need to be eligible, but you do not need to pre-register with the state.  The state pre-registration site is a diversion.

Also, I am eligible, I am a cancer patient, in addition to having a couple of other co-morbidities that put me at high risk.  At the time I pre-registered with the state I was not yet eligible, and was waiting for the update.  I am not eligible yet STILL have not received any notification from the state that I can now get the vaccine.  The state pre-registration site is useless and if you wait for them to inform you when your group is eligible you’ll be waiting a loooooong time.

bub said:

When you say keep trying, do you mean repeatedly re registering or somehow signing in and checking on your existing registration?  

You cannot register with Essex County until there is an available date for you to schedule a vaccination.  The available dates at our designated site (Sears in Livingston) go very quickly.  You may have to try several times before you find a date that is not full, then it is a race to complete and submit your form so you can get acknowledgment from the County that your registration is successful.  Think trying to get a food delivery date in the early days of the pandemic when people were searching at 2 am for an available delivery slot.  The experience is very similar.

joan_crystal said:

bub said:

When you say keep trying, do you mean repeatedly re registering or somehow signing in and checking on your existing registration?  

You cannot register with Essex County until there is an available date for you to schedule a vaccination.  The available dates at our designated site (Sears in Livingston) go very quickly.  You may have to try several times before you find a date that is not full, then it is a race to complete and submit your form so you can get acknowledgment from the County that your registration is successful.  Think trying to get a food delivery date in the early days of the pandemic when people were searching at 2 am for an available delivery slot.  The experience is very similar.

 Things must have changed because weeks ago I registered without getting a date and so did my wife.  

Going to the State site is a waste of time and it only confuses the situation.    The only site that matters is the Essexcovid.org site.

Joan Crystal,  If you still are trying to remember your appointment date, call the telephone number and they can track you via your email.  The number is difficult to reach, so you have to use your redial function liberally.

I finally got an appointment by calling that number.  For some reason I was not able to choose a date from the menu because of some computer glitch.  No matter what date I clicked on nothing happened.  And coincidently I received a call tonight from Joe D in which he admitted that there was "high demand" and "some bumps in the road".  No kidding Joe.  Been there and experienced that.  If you didn't have people on the telephone to talk to I would still be waiting.  Phooey on your computerized website.

mrmaplewood said:

Joan Crystal,  If you still are trying to remember your appointment date, call the telephone number and they can track you via your email.  The number is difficult to reach, so you have to use your redial function liberally.

I finally got an appointment by calling that number.  For some reason I was not able to choose a date from the menu because of some computer glitch.  No matter what date I clicked on nothing happened.  And coincidently I received a call tonight from Joe D in which he admitted that there was "high demand" and "some bumps in the road".  No kidding Joe.  Been there and experienced that.  If you didn't have people on the telephone to talk to I would still be waiting.  Phooey on your computerized website.

 Thank you.  A friend on MOL was able to track my date and told me what date I registered for.  I am now waiting for the email that tells me I got the date I selected.  I tried calling the call center several times and my call timed out each time.  The  call center is as overloaded as online sign-up. 

joan_crystal said:

Joan Crystal,  I.  I am now waiting for the email that tells me I got the date I selected.  

 Good luck, waiting for the email. My time and date confirmation notice came a week after I got the shot. 

452 planned for today.  Most to date.

Some info...for your second shots come at the same time as your first.

I still have not received appointment. Is there a way to check?

I just realized that my appointment for Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day. Does that mean that I'll have to get it over and over and over again?

steel said:

I just realized that my appointment for Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day. Does that mean that I'll have to get it over and over and over again?

 No, but it does mean you have to go to Punxsutawney, Pa. to get it. 

joan_crystal said:

 Thank you.  A friend on MOL was able to track my date and told me what date I registered for.  I am now waiting for the email that tells me I got the date I selected.  I tried calling the call center several times and my call timed out each time.  The  call center is as overloaded as online sign-up. 

 We are in the same boat -- got thru selected the date and got the e-mail but it did not confirm the date.  I thought maybe they were ranking them by age?  

The email said the request was being reviewed.  A friend who is volunteering at Sears confirmed that I was on the list for the date I requested.  I assume the lag in confirmation of date and time is due in part to sheer volume and in part to concerns about continued availability of the vaccine.

I personally think the thread title for this thread is unfair. I think that Essex County is doing a better job than the state at this point (even though I am still waiting for an appt time but my husband has his). 

Today’s Wall Street Journal agrees - it has an article “Process for COVID 19 streamlined in populous Essex County” that I was able to find online without a subscription.

bikefixed said:

Please don't. Just don't, please. These troubles with the vaccine roll-out are sounding just like the problems the NJ contact tracing effort experienced over the summer. We heard the "trying to fly the plane as we're building it" plea often enough - but it was true. The software systems and databases that were cobbled together needed more resources than were available. Lessons were learned the hard way. Capacity was overwhelmed. Rutgers took it on over the summer but that institution wasn't prepared to handle the HR duties involved in ramping up a workforce of over 1000 people. There was training to do. Protocols to be developed and documentation (and trying to find a notary for the I-9 forms in pandemic world was fun) to be filed. Pay structures. 

That whole process had/still has potholes but we're working on it. The vaccine delivery folks are working on it, too. 

NJ had several months to prepare for the vaccine roll-out.  This was not surprise when vaccines arrived in December.  

So I finally got appointment for vaccine. They had only my wife's email and cell phone. They left her a message for me to call. I did and while on phone they took all my information, registered me and gave me an appointment and texted and emailed me. Dealing with this takes lot's of patience!

I think my initial mistake was using the State website instead of the Essex County one.

lynnl199 said:

I personally think the thread title for this thread is unfair. I think that Essex County is doing a better job than the state at this point (even though I am still waiting for an appt time but my husband has his). 

Today’s Wall Street Journal agrees - it has an article “Process for COVID 19 streamlined in populous Essex County” that I was able to find online without a subscription.

People are getting appointments but not getting confirmation notifications, leading them to wonder if they got an appointment or not.  

JerseyJack received his confirmation a week AFTER his appointment.

Email addresses cannot be reused, leading to some more vulnerable portions of the population being unable to get an appointment.
 

I spoke to someone who volunteers at the site at the Livingston Mall. He says they are doing the best they can under extremely difficult circumstances. Funding is severely limited. The County Health Department has only a few employees. The County has dealt with this by signing up hundreds of volunteers. And the County Executive himself shows up on a regular basis to see how things are going.

I lost my patience going through the system until I finally got an appointment but I understand that they are overwhelmed.

spontaneous said:

Email addresses cannot be reused, leading to some more vulnerable portions of the population being unable to get an appointment.
 

 I have been told that the County is working to correct this.

A phone bank has been set up to handle people who do not have email addresses.  Family members or caretakers can call to make appointments.

joan_crystal said:

spontaneous said:

Email addresses cannot be reused, leading to some more vulnerable portions of the population being unable to get an appointment.
 

 I have been told that the County is working to correct this.

Correct.  For now the same email address will work for more than one person as long as there are separate phone numbers.   They are working to fix it.

 Spouse and I have appointments for February 2. I (who am pretty computer savvy) didn't see at first the "click here for available appointments" in about 8 point font below the large rectangle register for vaccine. Once I saw that I clicked on it this past Friday at about 8 am; nothing then for Livingston. Then clicked again an hour later and there were 200 plus appointments for 2/1 and 2/2. I then filled out all the registration per the form (having done that earlier in the week but there had been no appointments). I assume we'll get a time for 2/2; otherwise we'll show up per above. Essex county rocks compared to how NYC is dealing with it. I will think twice before I fault Essex County govt. in the future.