You may be eligible for a vaccine, but if you don’t have an appointment yet, just being allowed to take it doesn’t mean that the process will be easy.
In South Carolina, 3.7 million people are already eligible, according to the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. On March 15, about 950,000 people in South Carolina started the vaccination process.
This leaves many people who still want an injection, and nowhere near enough to accommodate them.
The state health agency encourages people to use its website, vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov, to find an appointment. The website is updated several times a day.
Where should I try to get a vaccine?
Many hospitals report that they do not have enough vaccine available to schedule new appointments or, if they do, those appointments are limited.
The South Carolina University of Medicine closed scheduling appointments for vaccines in the last week of February. At most, MUSC officials said the system had 50,000 people on its waiting list. Dr. Danielle Scheurer, director of quality for MUSC, said that they are working on this waiting list and hope to open consultations again soon.
“I am still very hopeful that the floodgates will open in the near future,” said Scheurer.
Watch for announcements about major vaccination events in your community or nearby. Know that, at the moment, most of the photos available are in retail pharmacies like Publix, Harris Teeter, CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Farmácia Ingles and others.
And if you’re tech savvy, try exploring scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-vaccine-allocation to identify which vaccine providers still have vaccines left. DHEC provides a daily update on the amount of vaccine that each location received and how much is left – but remember that this does not take into account the doses booked through a consultation.
When should I try to get a vaccine?
With the majority of the state now eligible, it is almost easier to describe who should not have an injection: if you are under 55, you have no health problems or latent disabilities and do not work a job that requires you to be face to face with other people, so you need to wait.
All veterans enrolled in the healthcare system through the VA Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center in Charleston can also receive a vaccine.
As for when to look for an appointment, Nick Davidson, senior public health deputy at DHEC, said that most of the time, vaccine deliveries happen on Mondays. But he said the best method is to keep trying. Davidson said people should check the website, call the DHEC vaccine line at 1-866-365-8110 and “keep your ear to the ground”.
DHEC’s call center staff can make appointments for people in most cases, officials said.
Where is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine going to?
As of March 15, state health providers have received 51,300 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
About a quarter of that amount went to Walgreens and CVS, and the rest was distributed in shipments of a few hundred doses each to other pharmacies across the state.
The manufacturer had a stock available that it was able to send to states shortly after the vaccine was authorized in the United States on February 27. But that stock has emptied, and the manufacturer’s shipments to the states have temporarily decreased as production increased.
Is South Carolina getting less vaccine than other states?
The amount the federal government sends to each state is directly proportional to the size of the adult population, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The adult population of South Carolina represents about one and a half percent of the country’s population, and this is also roughly the portion of the country’s total doses that the State of Palmetto has received.
Each state or jurisdiction chooses where the vaccine is sent, an HHS spokesman said.
How do I get on a waiting list?
DHEC recommends that each vaccine provider maintain a waiting list of willing recipients that they can call in case of need. That’s because each day presents the possibility of no-show, and nobody wants the vaccine to be used and wasted at the end of the day.
Nick Davidson, senior public health deputy at DHEC, said that some good, old-fashioned networks can solve the problem for anyone who wants to try this method.
Ask local vendors close to you if you can be added to the waiting list, said Davidson, keeping in mind that the government is not tracking each organization’s waiting list, so it is difficult to say which ones are already full.
Can I exchange appointments with someone else?
If you have an appointment, but feel that someone close to you needs more, you can’t just give someone else your appointment time, said Dr. Linda Bell, DHEC’s chief epidemiologist.
Bell said that if people change appointments with someone else, the important health information entered to schedule the vacancy will not match.
Scheurer of MUSC said it may be possible to change the recipient if you call the provider in advance.
Are there any other tricks for finding a compromise?
Health officials ask everyone who wants a vaccine to keep trying. The amount that enters the state is steadily increasing every week.
Davidson, from DHEC, said people should feel free to use online tools that help find commitments, like www.vaccinespotter.org/SC, but people should generally limit themselves to sources they trust.
“DHEC tries to provide information as completely and quickly as possible,” he said.
People should not give their health information to untrustworthy sources, and any website that offers vaccine points in exchange for money is a likely scam. The federal government has warned of threats to cybersecurity as people clamor for nominations.
This article will be updated as we learn more. Visit postandcourier.com/covid19 to stay up to date.