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CVS adds school workers to list of people who can get a Covid-19 shot in Massachusetts; state to follow suit

The move comes the morning after Pres. Biden said he was telling states to add school workers to the top of their priority lists, something Gov. Baker had steadfastly refused to do.

CVS can presumably do this because it gets its vaccines directly from the feds, rather than the state. The move doesn't necessarily mean they have any more vaccine, though. This site checks CVS (and Walgreens and Rite Aid) and can notify you when slots open up.

At a press conference, Baker said the state will follow suit on March 11, but that the state needs more vaccine.

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Take the J&J vaccines, put together mobile teams, and go directly to the schools to vaccinate teachers & staff. One & done. I realize refrigeration requirements for Pfizer & Moderna may have made mobile vaccinations like this a challenge, but J&J seems perfect for this type of distribution.

Also, why isn’t the Convention Center being used? The Red Sox start playing at Fenway April 1, I believe. So that site’s availability will be limited or no longer possible. A friend in NYC wrote me recently about a site staffed totally by medics from the Air Force (she was vaccinated by a guy with a Space Force patch on his uniform). It was quick & efficient. Has MA tried to obtain the help of the military for similar sites? If so, why not, Charlie?

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Since most kids are still virtual, I don't think going to schools makes sense.

Also don't think vaccine drives at the Convention Center, Fenway, Gillette etc. make sense either. It's not like CVS and Walgreens and Star Market are getting crushed by crowds of people getting vaccinated. Neighborhood pharmacies are fine.

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Vaccine recipients need to wait 15 minutes after getting the shot to make sure they don't have a reaction. In a CVS or Walgreens, this means they have people sitting on the floor in the aisles -- while people are shopping. Some pharmacies have been able to use adjacent empty space for their clinics, but not all of them have this option.

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You're supposed to remain on the premises for 15 minutes. It's not hard to spend 15 minutes walking around CVS shopping. Nothing says you should sit on the floor. It's ridiculous to design your vaccination infrastructure around some teenager who decides to sit on the floor while playing with their phone for 15 minutes.

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who might have trouble standing idly for 15 mins. fuck em, amiright?!

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You think it makes more sense to send elderly people to the Convention Center, rather than have them wait 15 minutes at their local CVS?

People regularly spend 15 minutes at CVS waiting in line at the pharmacy counter. Stop pretending that it's an extraordinary burden that needs a crazy solution.

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My county is using vaccination locations like high school gyms and so on, which as you pointed out, are not currently in use. The setup: a bunch of tables with three chairs at each. They sit someone down, RN asks questions, administers shot, sets a timer, moves on to another table. Then another worker gets more data, sets them up for their second dose appointment, follows the RN. 15 minutes expire, worker tells you you're good to go, they rotate back to the first table, lather rinse repeat. It's very efficient and not at all uncomfortable for anyone. Why fix it if it's not broken?

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I think it makes more sense for you to stop waving your entitlement in our faces. Just because you can stand around for 15 minutes (and let's be honest; it's going to take a lot longer than that) doesn't mean everyone can. I go to the trouble to schedule my visits to the drugstore at times when I won't have to stand around, surrounded by people who inevitably refuse to keep their distance or wear masks properly. If I get infected with COVID-19, I will probably die. I get that you don't care, but I wish you'd shut up.

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My mom (81) got her first shot at a large CVS and they told her not to walk around just to wait - they had 4 seats by pharmacy. My son went to a small Walgreens and they said - we have no room so go wait in your car or outside.

For reference. - the CVS was in Newton and Walgreens was in Roxbury. Neither had any issues.

My dad and I went to Fenway - quick and efficient.

None of us have any history of reactions or allergies besides seasonal ones.

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Have you tried getting an appointment at the "Neighborhood pharmacies "? Not easy at all!

I would like to see dedicated school sites so it doesn't happen during school hours. Do them regionally and combine a bunch of school systems.

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Use this site. It will text you when there are openings. It's how I got my shot after reading that Adam got his shot this way.

https://www.covidvaccinetexts.com/

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Have yet to get an appointment and I am on that list. And sometimes I am ASLEEP when the text comes at 4am.

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Many places are hybrid and the DOE is actively trying to get all students back in classrooms as soon as possible. We should be vaccinating teachers before this happens, not after.
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/02/23/massachusetts-teachers-associatio...

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I got my vaccine this morning at the East Boston site and the National Guard was doing everything from injections to observation. Fantastic and like clockwork.

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Most teachers would appreciated being vaccinated at the schools where they work, during their work hours or before or after. In the BPS, teachers are all now on site, for the most part, even if teaching remotely. Most are now simultaneously teaching in-person and remotely from their classrooms.

If everyone believes that the schools need to reopen as fully as possible this year, and I'm one of them, then they need to support vaccinating teachers ASAP. Not only is this the fair and right thing to do, but it is also the smart move to make as it removes this negotiating chip from the table and supports the whole economy as well as the kids.

And, yes, there are cases within the schools, both among staff members and students as much as people would tell you otherwise.

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Truth be told, Charlie Baker and his crack team of healthcare management specialists need some time to digest the latest developments, survey Mr. Henry at the Globe on what he thinks, and maybe some restaurant or casino owners, and then another good three to five minutes to change course on everything they came up with over the weekend and announce a new plan and its mechanics. This cannot be done folks who've never hit a deadline in their life, let alone one at 9am.

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Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but it seems the Teflon governor may be tarnishing a bit.

I've said it before, but this mess at DUA is an absolute disaster that is finally getting some attention:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/01/nation/states-dinosaur-unemployme...

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The unemployment system is a big headache. When I got laid off last April at the beginning of covid, I was in contact with a bunch of my former colleagues who also got the axe and we were trying to figure out how to navigate it together. Even trying to figure it out as a team, it was still like I was feeling my way around in the dark and it took weeks before the first payment got approved.

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Last spring and summer, I had hours reduced, then a full furlough due to Covid. Once I was able to figure out the bizzare and Byzantine quirks of the website, the benefits kicked in remarkably quickly, and when my employers secured PPP funding and brought us back, I was able to stop the claim successfully.

When the PPP ran out at the beginning of 2021, we were laid off again, I tried to reopen the claim. None of my information had changed, but for some reason DUA required proof of my identity this time. I called the DUA, navigated the automated menu, got disconnected twice, finally figured out that you have to choose the option for new claims rather than existing claims in order to get into the queue for live assistance. Waited on hold for 43 minutes, reached a person who told me that I was obviously eligible for benefits, but this was just a security measure to guard against fraudulent claims. I had to provide copies of two proofs-of-identity (license, passport, SS card, etc.), but they had to be mailed, not uploaded or dropped off. I actually mailed *three* items instead of just the two requested, just to be safe, the very same day.

That was about eight weeks ago. About four weeks ago, the claim was denied, via an email, with no explanation provided. Not only that, but the months of benefits I received last year were now listed as "overpayments" that had to be repaid. Now completely pissed and freaked out, I called the DUA, went through the menu/queue thing again (39 minutes this time) and was informed by a very nice agent that my materials had been received three days after I mailed them, but it took three-plus weeks before someone reviewed them and apparently decided they were not sufficient. Her records didn't say why, but her best guess, based on numerous similar situations, was that the copies I provided were not in color and/or not clear enough. I would have to appeal the decision, request a hearing, create and upload *one* PDF document compiling all the supporting documents (yes, for appeals the site is set up to accept uploads, unlike the initial submission), then await a decision or a hearing date.

That was two weeks ago. I've got a backlog of eight weeks of claims so far, but I'm lucky to be able to weather the storm for a short time. But as the Globe article highlights, many people have been absolutely screwed by this system, and the Commonwealth has been aware of it for over a year. This is another, ongoing failure for which the Baker Administration should be held accountable. For many people it has caused huge issues that will impact their financial health for years.
It's shameful and embarrassing.

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They have been overwhelmed with bogus claims and have been spending a ton of time sifting through all the claims to find the legit ones. It's bad for the people who lost their jobs and need unemployment, but I think they are doing as well as they can, with limited staff and an admittedly antiquated computer system.

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It would be misguided to give someone who has lead the executive branch of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 6 years a pass on an already broken system breaking more when its put under extreme stress.

It would be similarly misguided to throw all of the blame at him. But at the end of the day, when you've willingly been chosen to take over the Corner Office, you take ownership of everything that falls under it, in whatever condition you found it in.

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with limited staff and an admittedly antiquated computer system.

I'm sure it takes some time, but these seem like things that are entirely fixable by the Governor of the state, if it was a priority for him (especially because things like the computer system were problems even before there was a global pandemic and a boom in unemployment applications).

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I am patiently waiting for one co-morbidity to start.

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Should take a backseat to MBTA employees, who unlike teachers show up daily.

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...colleges are not schools. You coulda fooled me, for all the teaching I do at one. :-(

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Yeah, we've been cut out from start of the state plan while other states considered higher education part of education for vaccination priority.

I'm glad my employer, colleagues and the student body has created a safe enough environment for me to do my job safely. I'm not sure that K-12 districts are able to provide that same level of safety without vaccinating teachers and staff, so I'm absolutely happy for them. But it's hard to not feel slighted by The Commonwealth when they explicitly wrote our profession into the list in Phase 3 above "general public." Someone made that decision, not just to exclude us, but to make sure we knew it.

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