Kathy and I received our first dose of Covid 19 vaccine yesterday. Getting it involved a trip to Bolivia. Bolivia, North Carolina, that is! 🙂
When North Carolina announced a few weeks ago that they would be opening up vaccinations to Group 4 (our group), I knew that because it included anyone from 18-64 it was going to be a huge group unless they somehow broke it down. Well, they did, sort of. They determined that the first wave would be people 18-64 with pre-existing health conditions, which in my opinion (and the CDC’s guidelines) is just about everyone. That essentially created a huge group vying for the next batch of vaccine, especially when I’m not sure how good of a dent they’ve made on the 65 and up crowd. I know all or most of our neighbors have gotten it, but we have a pretty aware and active bunch.
Anticipating a wait of days or weeks, I went online Wednesday morning with my pre-saved folder of websites for the local hospitals and county health organizations. These websites are extremely aggravating, as most of them require you to enter and re-enter information, only to take you to a page that says there are no appointments available. I don’t know if it is result of poor (or no) user testing or if it is intentionally designed to keep people from continually refreshing multiple pages. There has to be a better way, but I’m not smart enough to figure it out!
When I went to the website for Novant Health, one of our two large local hospital networks and one for which I already had an online profile, a few clicks took me to a page to show what appointments were available. There were no appointments available locally, but they were showing numerous appointments available at Brunswick Community College in Bolivia, North Carolina. Where the @#$%^ is Bolivia, I asked? Well, Bolivia is a little crossroads just outside of Southport and near Wilmington, in the southeast corner of the state and a little over 200 miles away. Kathy & I immediately snagged appointments for the same time on the same day. ROAD TRIP!
Of course it doesn’t take much of an excuse for us to load up the car and head somewhere. But the promise of a vaccination appointment just two days away was not a hard decision to make. So we found a motel, an Italian restaurant and a place for breakfast, just like we would do anywhere. It’s good to have lots of practice. 😉
I’ll talk more about the trip and the vaccination process in another post, but suffice it to say it was smooth as silk. They automatically provided us with appointments for our second dose in the same place at the same time in 4 weeks, so we’ll go back and do it all over again!
Oh, and we made some photo stops along the way there and back, so that will also be the subject of future posts! 🙂
Progress!! Congratulations!
Yes! Fortuitous timing but we’ll take it. That will make for more confident travel, for certain. 😉
Congrats, Tom, and I have to admit that I am jealous – it will take some weeks, if not months until I get mine.
Even if it does not completely protect from infection, it at least takes away some of the uncertainty and fear.
I’ve been reading about how far behind the European countries are with the vaccine. My impression has always been that of efficiency when it comes to Europe, but it has not been the case in this example. There have been many missteps with many countries including the US. Some have done things better than others and vice versa. We appear to have gotten the vaccine part right despite the best efforts of our previous president.
Good news that you’ve been shot, although it was a longshot. I assume you will make the same trip for the second sot. I only had to drive three miles but must admit a road trip would have been fun. Look forward to more about the trip.
Yep! We’ve already made the hotel reservation and are planning to go back. We might have been able to get the second dose closer to home, but the timing is right for this one so we’re keeping it, even if it means another drive.
I had a friend just move to Bolivia, NC. I’d never heard of the place before that. Now, twice. Congrats, on your initial jab!
Truthfully, I had to look it up when I saw where the site was. It is in a growing area with a large Novant hospital and lots of new housing developments. Everyone wants to be closer to the beach, it seems.