I'm glad you posted this, Staysfit, as a surprising number of people seem to be wavering on the decision to get the vaccine. I'm waiting eagerly for mine. Never before have I wanted a shot so badly. And I don't mind a few side effects, either; I've had them before with other shots, and they always went away quickly. Thank you Pfizer and Moderna for rolling it out so quickly!

In my state I’m in the last group to get the vaccine (healthy 18-64 year olds). My husband is older and in the earlier group and will be able to get it sooner. When he does, he’ll have to run all the errands. I joke about this, but I think my state will make subgroups within the last group, as they have just announced today, moving 75 year olds to the second group. I am the oldest in the last group, having missed the cutoff by a mere six months.

I hope DH and I can get the vaccine soon as we are both over 73 and have preexisting conditions but live at home. In our state prison guards and prisoners are next after care givers, emergency personnel and maybe those in Care facilities. Our state got much less vaccine than expected, so we know it will be awhile yet. Thank you for the reassurance Stayfit.

Thanks Staysfit! I'm sure I'll be one of the last groups to get it- medical field but not seeing patients, 40s, and healthy. Hopefully my parents and inlaws, and older friends can get it soon!

I really want to get it, and will as soon as I'm allowed. My husband is a cancer patient and I'm the only caregiver, but his Dr told me he thinks my husband will be allowed early but I won't be. How does that make sense? I'm around him all the time, and when we need something we can't order it's me out in public, not him. I also go to all Dr appointments, and have a few of my own. If I get sick it would be equally bad for both of us. I admit to not understanding or being clear on the whole priority list, but I'm really hoping the Dr is wrong.

Peri, that is so stressful ... hoping you are able to both be vaccinated soon x

Thank you for this excellent information! I don't know when I will get the vaccine but I will be happy when I do. Peri, that is an extremely stressful situation.

Thanks so much for posting such helpful information. I only know some ER doctors who have been vaccinated so it's great to hear your experience. I am not on the fence at all and will be happy to get my shot(s) whenever - probably not until May/June for my age

Peri, that doesn’t sound right at all! I hope you can both get the vaccine soon, and I’m wishing your husband successful treatment and full remission.

As a health care provider working on a COVID unit, I felt so relieved to get my vaccine last week. Relief that I won’t carry the virus home to my family, relief that after a year I might see my Mom again soon, and relief that the death toll might finally start to flatten. The last 10 months have been truly exhausting. The only way out is for everyone who can safely do so to get vaccinated.

Thanks toronogirl, Style Fan and Janet. He is doing well overall so the biggest worry is less, but yes, it's an ordeal to manage all this in the age of Covid. Either one would be hard, together it's just a mess.

Staysfit - thank you for this very useful update. I am so glad that you have been given this as your work is so important. Hopefully as the vaccination program rolls out, fewer people will get sick, a circuit breaker is needed.

Staysfit, thank you for your perspective and reassurance. My 20-something daughter is a clinical researcher in a major medical system here on the East coast, so pre-COVID she was always interacting with hospitalized patients. Now she is mostly remote BUT occasionally has to go into work and as we all know, any patient who was “healthy” yesterday could have COVID today. Still, she was rightly in one of the last waves scheduled to get vaccinated in her hospital (we figured late Feb. or early March). Yesterday she was informed her wave could schedule their shots immediately, and she is going in tomorrow for her first shot. Apparently so many people REJECTED their spot in line that the later waves can get injected much sooner than anyone expected. The hospital says data is showing the no-shows are mostly lower-tiered employees who face COVID exposure daily as they clean rooms, transport patients, etc., so clearly we are not doing our best to communicate the importance and safety of the vaccine. Sigh.

Sad to hear that Aquamarine, about people's unwillingness.
Australia has a national timetable that just got announced recently. Not starting until mid Feb. I will be in the second to last group which is fine, especially if my state remains free of community transmission. The government is very worried about the UK strain - they have locked down Brisbane for 3 days after a single case of it.

It's worth mentioning that many scientists maintain that we don't yet know whether the vaccine allows transmission.