Looking to get a vaccine once they open to the general public Tuesday? Here’s what you should know.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday announced the opening of the coronavirus vaccination floodgates — and a torrent of anxious Minnesotans rushed in. Beginning Tuesday, every Minnesota resident aged 16 and older will be eligible to receive a vaccine, Walz proudly announced in a morning address. “This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. But being eligible and actually getting the vaccine are two different things, as waves of Minnesotans quickly discovered as they scrambled to secure appointments that vanished as soon as they appeared. This is to be expected, state and private health care leaders cautioned — as did regular people who have become schooled in prior vaccine rollouts. The universe of those about to be eligible — 4.4 million people — now vastly exceeds the number of doses the state has been allocated each week by the federal government — 330,000 weekly on average over the past three weeks. But it should be temporary, those familiar with the system said. “In the next four to six weeks, a lot of this is going to flatten out,” said Dr. Abraham Jacob, chief quality officer for MHealth Fairview, who joined Walz and Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm in making the announcement. “Then we’re going to be up here talking about vaccine hesitancy.” Even sooner than that, things will make more sense, said Maura Caldwell of Minneapolis, who on Feb.1 started the Facebook group “ Minneapolis Vaccine hunters (helping all of MN) ” and an associated website MNVaccineHunters.com that seek to connect people with vaccine options. “The difference between today and two weeks from now is going to be huge,” said Caldwell, who, along with a team of fellow volunteers, has been helping anyone who asks navigate realm of vaccine hunting. “Even a few days from now, the knowledge you’ll have from talking to your friends and doing a little research will be amazing. It won’t be such a mystery.” In the meantime, however, officials effectively conceded that the nation’s decentralized health care system would indeed yield a sense of a free-for-all for many seeking the vaccines, with hospitals and doctors often employing different criteria than pharmacies and government-sponsored sites. And then there are tricky footnotes to know. For example, only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for people as young as 16, Jacob said. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are only approved for those 18 and older. Health care providers — doctors, hospitals and clinics — have been directed to still prioritize those currently at the front of the line, a group that includes those 65 and older, or those with certain underlying health conditions, or those in certain frontline professions.
