Hopefully Helpful Info
I'm going to try to be useful. I know this is unusual for me.
I realized this morning that I've learned a few bits of information about finding a vaccination appointment. I'm in group 2, so it's not of any help to me yet, but some of you are 1B and probably haven't been successful yet in getting vaccinated.
Here are strategies that have been successful for people I know:
1. Find out when appointment batches are opened.
As an example, one DQ reader found out that appointments for the location he eventually used opened at midnight. He was easily able to get an appointment, and the entire batch was unavailable by 7 a.m. So it appears that people get up early to find appointments, not stay up late.
2, Find out which service provider won the contract for the largest vaccination site in your area.
Austin, as an example, was doing mass vaccinations at a gigantic white elephant of a high school football stadium (a 15M facility for high school football, don't get me started). Going to that service provider's website will give you all kinds of helpful information about appointment availability and scheduling.
3. At the end of the day, the priority is using all remaining doses.
Another friend just showed up at the end of the day to this high school stadium, and because there had been a few cancelled appointments, there were unused doses available. This has worked really well for a few people I know, particularly when you show up to the largest vaccination site.
4. Consider going out of town.
If you live in a large city (like Austin), there are a significant number of smaller communities within an hour that will also receive doses of vaccine, and there may be less demand for them. Plus, there's no way that doses can be perfectly distributed, so you may find a community with an availability/demand gap. The county health website is usually the place to go for information.
If you have any additional tips, please send them in and I'll post them.
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