Off to get shot. Is my solution part of the problem?

[canyonwalker]

I'll leave home in a moment to get my first Covid-19 vaccine shot. As I noted a few days ago, I have to go to Davis, CA, 105 miles away. "Have to", in this case, means if I even want to be on the schedule at all. There is absolutely zero availability anywhere closer right now. Yes, perhaps availability will open up closer to home... sometime. I am choosing now at 105 miles away over maybe sometime soon closer to home.

Since I booked this appointment Monday I've asked myself several times, is my solution part of the problem? Plenty of news articles about the problems in vaccine distribution note that people scooping up the early vaccinations are disproportionately those who have money, free time, and computer skills. Here I am, driving 105 miles away, outside my metro area, across a few county lines... am I taking a shot that should be going to someone else?

No, I've decided, I am not taking somebody else's shot. I am eligible for a shot now under California's rules announced months ago and reiterated Monday. It's literally my turn.

Yes, within that framework of eligibility I did have to scramble to take my turn. The sad fact is that while several million people were added to the eligibility list there are not enough doses for all of us right away. I decided months ago, even before the vaccine rollout began, that I would not support excessive hand-wringing over who goes before whom. We've got a policy in place; it's a decent policy; and according to that policy, I'm eligible. I am not going to split hairs about whether someone else in this eligibility group should be one step ahead of me in line.

Comments

[khedron]

Sounds like the right approach to me. This isn't the "vaccine tourism" we've been reading about where someone goes to a state which opened up earlier. This is just about distribution within your own state and people who are following the same rules.

[canyonwalker]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. While I double-checked the state rules on Monday to ensure the March 15 policy hadn't been changed at the last minute, I also triple-checked I wasn't taking a shot I wasn't technically eligible for by looking up the local policies. The Solano County Health Department listed a handful of county-run clinics restricted to county residents only. Shots at drugstore and supermarket pharmacies and private healthcare clinics were open to everyone eligible under state rules.