For thousands of Vermonters on Tuesday, it was a case of vaccination frustration all over again.”It’s been a roller-coaster for the past 24-48 hours,” Windsor resident Taylor Long said. “I took the week off thinking that if I get a same week appointment and I have to drive 2 hours or an hour and a half to get it having a week off enables me to do that.”After spending 30 minutes on Monday refreshing her computer, Taylor Long got an appointment for the J & J shot on Wednesday. She woke up Tuesday morning to the news that she, and many others, would have their appointments cancelled.”What I did get was a text saying go on the website and reschedule,” Long said. She spent almost an hour trying to get an appointment rescheduled for this week. Finally, Long got one booked for Friday.”I feel bad for the people who couldn’t, for example, spend 45 minutes.” “Very often, people who work frontline jobs and don’t have extra leisurely time during the day are low income people and BIPOC folks,” Sen. Kesha Ram (D) said.Senator Ram received her J&J shot on Saturday. She says she felt the side effects, but it was nothing more than her body’s immune response to the dose. Grateful she was able to receive a vaccine herself, she acknowledges the barriers this pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccines could create for many Vermonters.”It shouldn’t feel like you’re winning the lottery here to get your vaccine.”Obstacles people may face when trying to schedule a vaccine appointment could be a lack of internet access or even limited access to social media. Many are taking to social media to post when pharmacies and other vaccination sites have leftover doses. “The guess work is really challenging and adds an extra barrier for our more marginalized communities,” Ram said. Montpelier resident Jill Remick and her husband had a vaccine appointment scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.”We actually didn’t know which one it was until it got cancelled this morning,” Jill Remick said.That call coming at 10:30 a.m. The health department telling her that she and her husband can’t get another appointment until mid-May. Heartbroken, Remick expressed her disappointment to her friends, many of whom were in the same situation. With nothing to lose, one of her neighbors went to the local Kinney Drugs store to find nine extra doses. “We just dropped everything, ran downstairs and got in our car and drove right there.”Governor Phil Scott said Tuesday that everyone who had an appointment cancelled will be contacted to reschedule.
For thousands of Vermonters on Tuesday, it was a case of vaccination frustration all over again.
“It’s been a roller-coaster for the past 24-48 hours,” Windsor resident Taylor Long said. “I took the week off thinking that if I get a same week appointment and I have to drive 2 hours or an hour and a half to get it having a week off enables me to do that.”
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After spending 30 minutes on Monday refreshing her computer, Taylor Long got an appointment for the J & J shot on Wednesday. She woke up Tuesday morning to the news that she, and many others, would have their appointments cancelled.
“What I did get was a text saying go on the website and reschedule,” Long said.
She spent almost an hour trying to get an appointment rescheduled for this week. Finally, Long got one booked for Friday.
“I feel bad for the people who couldn’t, for example, spend 45 minutes.”
“Very often, people who work frontline jobs and don’t have extra leisurely time during the day are low income people and BIPOC folks,” Sen. Kesha Ram (D) said.
Senator Ram received her J&J shot on Saturday. She says she felt the side effects, but it was nothing more than her body’s immune response to the dose. Grateful she was able to receive a vaccine herself, she acknowledges the barriers this pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccines could create for many Vermonters.
“It shouldn’t feel like you’re winning the lottery here to get your vaccine.”
Obstacles people may face when trying to schedule a vaccine appointment could be a lack of internet access or even limited access to social media. Many are taking to social media to post when pharmacies and other vaccination sites have leftover doses.
“The guess work is really challenging and adds an extra barrier for our more marginalized communities,” Ram said.
Montpelier resident Jill Remick and her husband had a vaccine appointment scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
“We actually didn’t know which one it was until it got cancelled this morning,” Jill Remick said.
That call coming at 10:30 a.m. The health department telling her that she and her husband can’t get another appointment until mid-May.
Heartbroken, Remick expressed her disappointment to her friends, many of whom were in the same situation. With nothing to lose, one of her neighbors went to the local Kinney Drugs store to find nine extra doses.
“We just dropped everything, ran downstairs and got in our car and drove right there.”
Governor Phil Scott said Tuesday that everyone who had an appointment cancelled will be contacted to reschedule.
