Here is my experience so far trying to sign up for a vaccine.  (I’m 65+.)

Our local Kroger pharmacy is one of many in the area that has not received the vaccine as of yet, so I’ll keep checking the status, but not holding my breath.

Over a week ago I searched for and found the Knoxville gov online site to register to get on the waiting list to be notified to schedule an appointment when vaccines become available in this area.  The site said demand greatly outpaces the supply, so it would take time.  The form includes your phone number and email address.

Yesterday I missed a phone text giving me a four hour window to make an appointment, if any were still available, on one specific day, at one of only a couple of vaccine sites somewhere not nearby.  They did not send me an email, which I had more chance of noticing.  It said if I missed the deadline, I’d be removed from the waitlist, and have to reapply.  Which I did today, after I saw the expired message.  So I’ll keep on waiting until I get it right, I guess.

If I were the average non-tech-savvy and non-mobile old person, I probably wouldn’t even have known where to find the appropriate site online, let alone gotten the text in time to make an appointment, or have the mobility or ability to access some unfamiliar far away location.  Or if I made it there, I might experience what many others here have reported, arriving in time for their appointment only to find they ran out of vaccines, and have to start the process all over.  Or, less at-risk people barge in line and receive limited supplies meant for eligible people with appointments.  They don’t make it easy in indifferent red states like ours.

Fortunately, we now have a competent, proactive president who is expediting the vaccine process, doubling the supply to all states, and making it accessible to all adults sooner, so it’s conceivable we might be able to get vaccinated some time this year.  The “next normal” is not even a thing I can anticipate any time soon.

While I’m waiting, here are some flowers, and a blueberry-strawberry-lemon pie by E., for instant gratification.