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^^ We have to drive an hour for #3. Our first two were local, but the only venues around here large enough to handle any volume with the distancing required are pretty much sports centres, which now have the ice in and league play started. Even if they shut down, taking the ice out properly still takes the best part of a week.

It seems the problem lies more with the number of sites as opposed to the booking system feeding them. I suppose we could have been more aggressive and hunted around for an earlier shot at some clinic or pharmacy, but we made a conscious decision to not get it before Christmas in case we get a reaction (which neither of is did with the first two).
 
Rufus8 said:
We now have the various lobbying groups insisting on more government money. I'm reminded that when the economy went from horse power to machine power those who had economic interests in the horse trade were not given any support, there was no lobbying for the rights of stable owners, horse traders or blacksmiths. Why do restaurant owners who engaged in years of paying low wages and treating their staff like 2nd class citizens think the whole country should care what happens to them?
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Decades of entitlement?

Seriously, when I was working in the industry, I worked for a Toronto-famous restaurant that chose to participate in Summerlicious. I was then getting paid about a dollar over minimum wage, realistically had zero breaks if it weren't a Monday or Tuesday. With a kitchen extra busy, in the middle of summer, it gets damn hot. The chefs working the pass didn't bother to turn on the heat lamps because they were literally evaporating sauces on the plate. The head server went out and (with his own money) bought several cases of Powerade for the back-of-house staff and we all got four bottles each. I went out and bought a clip-on fan just to point at me during my shift long before Summerlicious, and I attached a thermometer to the back of my whites only to find it reading 51°C by the end of shift. Most of that radiant heat from the grill, plancha and fryer, and I drank every one of those Powerades long before my shift was through. I was so hot by the end of that shift I was shaking and immediately sat down in the walk-in fridge for a full 25 minutes before heading home. I figure I was *this-close* to heat stroke that day.

That Toronto-famous restaurant took in $7m in *profit* that year, but refused to pay the extra prep time required of the cooks for participating in Summerlicious.
 
PinkLucy said:
They are readily available. Unlike here where I spent this afternoon putting myself in multiple wait lists.
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I want to be clear that I am in no way diminishing your experience or others facing similar challenges........

But I must confess it seems baffling from where I sit (privilege, of a sort, I suppose)

My Family Health Team have tons of third shots, and they opted to cancel all non-urgent appointments leading up to Christmas and they're pushing thousands through their queue.

They were similarly well organized in the first rounds; I got an email with a link to automatically book my appointment as soon as I was in the qualifying group.

It establishes to me that most people's family doctors should be part of an FHT and be similarly well organized.

Clearly, that is not the case.
 
My doc doesn’t have shots and didn’t the first rounds either. A friend works for a FHT that had shots for the first two but nothing for boosters. It’s a crap shoot. I’m content to wait, knowing I will get my shot, but I am seeing so much panic and frustration on my local groups. Apparently the pharmacy booking system has crashed this morning. The line ups at the vaxx buses and for test kits are wild. Human nature and government bungling at their finest.
 
zang said:
Yeah, but if you're in the 50+ group, it's *always* been a much easier road.

We searched weeks trying to find a 1st dose. We had to book in Mississauga to get our second after spending days trying to find something. I booked my booster at 7:30am this morning, and the *only* option I was able to find was 7:40pm on January 27th. There was not a single other date open; I basically lucked out.
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So the thing is they opened the bookings way early today. I was tipped off by a friend who was poking around at about 6:00 a.m. that it was already live and appointments were being snatched up. Apparently it opened up at midnight and people started booking then. I guess many assumed it would open up at 8:00 a.m. like before, but it was much earlier instead. I guess I lucked out too, a little more perhpas, as I got an appointment at the Convention Centre on January 27th at 7:20 p.m., though I did refresh a few times before it appeared.
 
I followed through with trying to see if I could rebook a sooner appointment *after* 8:00am. The soonest available was February 17th. I declined to change, obviously.

For all Doug Ford's hype about increasing capacity, I'm sure it's all complete BS.
 
lenaitch said:
Stupidity, ideological, political, take your pick. I frequent a forum that is mostly US contributors and largely made up of trades, rural folk; you know, 'good ol' boys'. The distrust of government, distain for government intrusion into their lives; distrust of science; you know, 'freedom baby', is rampant. Many wouldn't take these 'experimental drugs' if it was wrapped in a $100 bill.

It has had it's hiccups but I have found the 'virtual queue' of the booking portal to work quite well. Both for #2 and #3 I was on around 9am on day one of eligibility, was told my wait time, went and did stuff and came back to book, right on time. We've had much less luck with the private sector involvement (drug stores).
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Oddly enough they seem to have no issue with pumping themselves with hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin totally off-label, as if they're super benign drugs made by some freedum-luvin, mom-and-pop pharma.

AoD
 
Jonny5 said:
So the thing is they opened the bookings way early today. I was tipped off by a friend who was poking around at about 6:00 a.m. that it was already live and appointments were being snatched up. Apparently it opened up at midnight and people started booking then. I guess many assumed it would open up at 8:00 a.m. like before, but it was much earlier instead. I guess I lucked out too, a little more perhpas, as I got an appointment at the Convention Centre on January 27th at 7:20 p.m., though I did refresh a few times before it appeared.
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Jan 3rd for me, Feb 18th for the under 50 wife. I'll suggest she try the local pharmacy, but do they have Moderna?
 
Admiral Beez said:
Jan 3rd for me, Feb 18th for the under 50 wife. I'll suggest she try the local pharmacy, but do they have Moderna?
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There is a shortage of Pfizer at the moment, and those who booked for Pfizer are being told they will get Moderna, so I’m going to say it’s a good chance she will get Moderna.
 
Managed to get my 3rd shot on Saturday but it took some diligence. I happen to have a TPH pop up clinic at my workplace which operates every Thursday, Friday and Saturday since the end of October. They were doing 1st and 2nd vaccinations and for walk-ins only. So this past Thursday decided to drop by and see if they were by any chance administering 3rd doses and they were! Was told earlier in the day they were still offering only 1st and 2nd doses but that changed around when the Province announced that anyone 18+ would be eligible. Therefore they had already run out when I inquired.

Decided to drop by on Friday after work around 5pm in hopes of getting a shot and considering that hopefully most people haven’t found out about the booster shot being administered. But seems like the word got out and there was a huge line up, some were waiting 4-5H. Left and came back later on in the evening to find out what time they would open on Saturday. This is when I discovered they had cut off the line after I left due to limited supplies.

On Saturday I showed up around 7:45am knowing that it would be that crazy. The clinic doesn’t even open until 9am. Got there and was maybe the thirtieth in the line. Around 8:30 they started issuing time tickets to tell you when to come back for your shot. Clearly they learned from the chaos of the day before. Heard that all the 300 available slots were given out by 8:45am. Anyone else who didn’t get a ticket would have to try again the next day.

Came back around 12:30pm for my shot and that’s when I overheard a TPH employee saying that if people want to try their luck they should check in around 5:45pm to see if there would be more vaccines delivered. This is when my co-worker and her sister managed to snag a shot after the failed attempt in the morning. They happen to be passing by and saw no line up. After receiving theirs there was a huge line up again.

These pop up clinics are very much operating on the fly. I luckily decided to check it out after coming across a friend’s posting that they managed to get their 3rd dose on Wednesday! There is clearly no hard guidelines.

Other things that I have been told by my coworker who’s parents received their shots at a Shoppers. Some stores offer wait lists. Others do not and only offer a limited number of shots for walk-ins only. Apparently it is up to store management.
 
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Northern Light said:
I want to be clear that I am in no way diminishing your experience or others facing similar challenges........

But I must confess it seems baffling from where I sit (privilege, of a sort, I suppose)

My Family Health Team have tons of third shots, and they opted to cancel all non-urgent appointments leading up to Christmas and they're pushing thousands through their queue.

They were similarly well organized in the first rounds; I got an email with a link to automatically book my appointment as soon as I was in the qualifying group.

It establishes to me that most people's family doctors should be part of an FHT and be similarly well organized.

Clearly, that is not the case.
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My doctor is in a Family Health Organization. No vaccines whatsoever.

Vaccination has been a chaotic mess since the very beginning. We shouldn't have to hunt for something that is so essential. I was able to get my first dose in April because I went on St. Michael's website out of curiosity, and noticed they had included my postal code in their service area (even though I'm at Bay and Bloor!). I would have never known otherwise. I was given an appointment for my second dose, but decided to get an earlier one at the Convention Centre. And I as said before, St. Michael's sent me a link to their reservation system on Dec. 10, telling me I was immediately eligible for an appointment for the third dose because I had been there for my first dose; I used the link right away and got my third Pfizer on Dec. 13, the very day I became eligible. But this time around, they don't vaccinate anyone else...
 
yrt+viva=1system said:
Other things that I have been told by my coworker who’s parents received their shots at a Shoppers. Some stores offer wait lists. Others do not and only offer a limited number of shots for walk-ins only. Apparently it is up to store management.
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Yes, this adds to the fun. I have to sign up for individual store waitlists rather than being able to have a central waitlist for, say, stores within 25 km of me. There are about 15 stores within that radius, so I have to go one by one setting up the waitlist. I know from previous experience that I wasn't ever contacted via a waitlist!

I checked the family health team where I received my second dose. They don't know if and when they will receive any supply.

Vaccine Hunters came up empty for me as well. Everything local is booking into mid February (via the portal and individual pharmacies)

I stopped at my small local pharmacy, and they are overwhelmed. They have no supply so aren't booking appointments until they know what supply they receive. People are so rude to them, taking out their frustrations on the front line staff.

All of this could have been avoided by opening up appointments based on the supply chain rather than creating a Hunger Games scenario.

I did get my flu shot though!
 
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