In the week since registration opened for Phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccine in New Hampshire, residents of the Monadnock region have experienced mixed results in the process.
For some, getting an appointment for their first shot of the vaccine was relatively smooth, resulting in a scheduled date and time within 24 hours of the registration opening on Jan. 22. For others, like Lois Walen of Rindge, it was a week-long ordeal filled with frustration, long wait times and an online system that just didn’t work for her.
“It has been an absolute nightmare trying to get an appointment,” Walen said on Friday. “It has taken me an entire week. I have called so many numbers I can’t even tell you.”
For Walen, the process, like so many others who qualified for Phase 1B, started on Jan. 22. The state online system and 2-1-1 call line went live at 8 a.m. and Walen opted to use the online system initially.
She was able to register with the state that Friday and got an email from the CDC Vaccine Administration Management System the following day. Then the issues began. She was unable to submit the form because it said Walen entered the wrong email. Fifteen more attempts and help from her daughter got Walen no closer to an appointment.
“No matter what I did it wouldn’t accept it,” she said.
So she decided to call 2-1-1 and was met with long wait times followed by new phone numbers to call, resulting in little help. By last Thursday morning, Walen made one last call and was going to wait until she got an appointment.
“After being on hold basically all day,” Walen finally got through to someone who helped her register – after seven days of trying. “I said ‘I’m going to be on hold until I get an appointment.’”
Marcie Connare of Rindge said she registered online on Jan. 22 and then waited. By Sunday she didn’t get anything so she registered again. Then she did it two more times and got no email to make an appointment.
Last Monday, she called 2-1-1 and was put on hold. She tried several times on Monday and Tuesday and never spoke to a live person. By the time Thursday rolled around she was determined to talk to someone.
“That time I just said I’m going to stay on,” Connare said.
Once she finally did talk to a human being, the process only took about 15 minutes.
Joan Winslow of New Ipswich said she went online the Friday morning registration opened and it took a few tries “to get to a screen where it had a register button,” she said. But she finally did and it came as a relief.
“The process itself was far from perfect, but I’m thrilled I got an appointment,” Winslow said.
Later that Friday night, she got the email from the CDC, but questioned if the real email would get to her that quickly.
So she emailed the New Hampshire state website at about 10 p.m. to see if that was indeed the correct form. She got a response in five minutes and logged in to complete her appointment process. Two hours later, her question was part of a state email with helpful tips.
Dwight Schenk, of Rindge, said he and his wife Julie Flood Page got up early that Friday morning and were at their computers for 8 a.m.
He said there were some tricky parts along the way, but for the most part it was an easy process for them. Much to their surprise, they got the email from the CDC that night to make an appointment. So they went on that night in hopes of scheduling their first shot as soon as possible.
“We were figuring this was a race against time,” Schenk said.
Once again they were both at their computers, navigating the process together in hopes of getting the same time slot, which they did – after learning it would have put them together anyway since they live in the same household.
Rick Harnden of New Ipswich considers himself a tech-savvy guy and had confidence he’d be able to navigate the online system.
He logged on at 8 a.m. on Jan. 22; initially the website was non-responsive, but it only took 15 minutes to begin the process.
Later that same evening, he got the email from the CDC and was able to sign up for an appointment within the first 24 hours of registering. But Harnden knows not everyone had the same experience.
“It was not challenging for me, but I understand it’s certainly a challenge for so many,” he said. “It’s really too much for some people.”
Schenk said they were able to get an appointment in Keene on Feb. 5 thanks to an accidental click during signup that may have gotten them in line a month earlier than expected.
Schenk said the calendar showed all January appointments were filled and when he clicked on what he thought would be February appointments it brought him to March. But he decided to go back and dig a little deeper and realized the calendar somehow jumped a month.
“I could have easily convinced myself that was the case,” Schenk said of the March time. “With 300,000 people eligible and 17,000 doses available each week that could easily push it back.”
Harnden was able to get an appointment on Feb. 13 for both he and his wife. He was able to do both through the CDC to ensure they were able to go at the same time.
Winslow said her preferred vaccination site was in Nashua and she took the earliest available appointment during the second week of February.
“I feel extremely lucky,” Winslow said. “I was really surprised to get February. I was expecting March or April.”
Connare, whose husband Joe Manning received his first shot through the VA this week, will be going for her first dose on March 11. With the registration process behind her, she’s only concerned about Mother Nature’s cooperation.
“My worry is there’s going to be a big blizzard that day,” she said.
Walen was given an appointment in March, on a Saturday at a National Guard clinic in Keene. Like so many others, she hoped for a sooner vaccination date, but after a week of attempting to register, it didn’t matter when she was scheduled for.
“At this point I’m just thankful to have an appointment,” Walen said.
Schenk said there was never a question whether he and Flood Page would receive the vaccine.
“I come from a medical household and have a firm belief in science,” he said.
He said he’s thankful for the level of protection it will provide, but understand at the same time there is still a long way to go before a return to normalcy.
Walen said she always intended to get the vaccine when it became available. Now she only has a little more than a month until she gets the first of her two shots.
Connare said there was no hesitation in signing up for the vaccine. It was what she planned to do all along and is just glad her first dose is on the horizon.
Winslow said she was pretty sure she was going to get the COVID-19 vaccine all along.
“And by the time we got to (signup time), I had trust in the safety of it,” she said.
Connare said she and her husband stay home for the most part, only leaving for doctor appointments and grocery shopping. They go on slower days and split up the store to decrease the amount of time they’re there.
They haven’t seen really anybody since March, filling their time with reading and crossword puzzles.
“We have a lot of friends in the same position,” Connare said.
Walen said life since March has been filled with reading and quilting. Her daughter in Massachusetts has visited, but stays outside and they talk through the screen door or from inside the garage to the driveway now the weather is much colder.
She still does her own errands, but does them all in one day coordinating her grocery shopping, dump and post office trips with doctor appointments.
“I’ve been in quarantine, isolation the whole time,” she said.
Winslow said she has been staying home since March outside of trips to medical appointments and the grocery store.
“It’s been pretty lonely, pretty boring,” she said.
Schenk said they have been avoiding large crowds and did some carefully distanced outdoor visits during the warmer months, while also seeing family via Zoom.
“For the most part that’s how we’ve lived since March,” Schenk said.
Harnden, who is one of the founders of Monadnock At Home and serves as a volunteer now, has been trying to help a client get their registration sorted out, but so far it has proven difficult.
“I’m not sure we’re going to succeed, but we’re going to try,” Harnden said.
Talking to friends made Walen realize she’s not alone.
“Everybody I have talked to, all my friends, have had their children or grandchildren help,” she said. “Not one person I know has been able to do it themselves.”
Winslow said she was relieved her experience went relatively smoothly, especially after hearing stories from family and friends in places like Massachusetts, Maine and Florida.
Schenk said he has been trying to help an elderly man who doesn’t have access to internet and is hard of hearing, making a call to 2-1-1 something that would be very difficult to navigate. He’s hoping to complete the process soon, but as of late last week they were still trying to coordinate schedules. From others, he’s heard that the soonest appointments they could get were March.
New Hampshire residents who qualify for Phase 1B include: all adults over the age of 65, residents under 65 who have two or more serious medical conditions, staff and residents of residential facilities for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, corrections officers and prison staff and healthcare workers and first responders not already vaccinated. For complete information, visit https://www.nh.gov/covid19/resources-guidance/vaccination-planning.htm and click on NH COVID-19 Vaccination Allocation Guidelines for Phase 1B.
On Thursday, the state began distributing an email and text message to the more than 300,000 individuals who have registered for a COVID-19 vaccination or whose medical provider has submitted information referring them as an eligible recipient in Phase 1B.
The text and email asks individuals whether they were able to successfully schedule an appointment for vaccination with a confirmed time, date, and location.
This additional communication is to help identify individuals who may require additional information or assistance in scheduling their vaccine appointment.
On Friday, the state sent an email to individuals in Phase 1B who have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and have yet to schedule a second dose, or who have scheduled an appointment that is several weeks away.
“New Hampshire’s rollout of Phase 1B has been very successful with over 300,000 individuals registering to receive their vaccine in just one week,” said Gov. Chris Sununu in a news release. “We are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to speeding up the process, including opening up additional appointments for individuals to receive their second dose.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 8 a.m., additional second dose appointments and clinics will be made available for scheduling in CDC’s VAMs scheduling system.
Individuals who received their first dose, and are looking to schedule or reschedule their second dose, should visit https://vams.cdc.gov/ and login with the same username and password that they used to schedule their first appointment.
Second dose appointments will only be available to people that have already received their first dose and are scheduling their second dose. Individuals that have not scheduled their first dose will not be able to view or select these appointments.
Individuals who have already scheduled their second dose appointments but would like to reschedule for an earlier date will be able to do so as well at that time.
For other questions about Phase 1B, visit https://www.vaccines.nh.gov/frequently-asked-questions.