I got my pfirst Pfizer vaccine today. Went with my aunt, who for a variety of reasons, only wanted to get the Pfizer vaccine. As far as effectiveness, well, any one of them will do but she did her research (good for her! Everyone should do that) and felt most comfortable with Pfizer. Fortunately for us, there has been a sudden increase in vaccines available in our region so with a little online hunting, we saw that we weren’t limited to just one vaccine. We had a choice, depending on the mass vax venue and date.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t old enough to get one through Allegheny county this week but Butler county was accepting pre-existing condition recipients 16-64 so I got us both vaccines there.
It’s about 45 minutes to Butler and back from where I live in Pittsburgh. The company I work for is giving employees two hours off to go to their vaccine appointments. But since there were two of us and we needed to sit for 15 minutes afterwards, I took a vacation day and we had a nice lunch afterwards
The only thing I could ding Butler Memorial Hospital for was the signage. As in, there was none for the vaccine clinic. But once we got into the visitor parking lot, we just followed the other confused people to the door and some helpful hospital staff directed traffic.
If you go, make sure to take a hard copy of your insurance card. The vaccine is free to people who don’t have insurance but for everyone else, your insurance company will get billed. I only had ecopies of my insurance card. Allegheny county’s site let me upload a digital copy but Butler was still using a copier to print off a hard copy for their records and it wouldn’t copy from my iPhone. So, now I have to call the billing department and figure out how to send them a copy of my card. It would be nice to figure out a more uniform registration system. Still not too late, Andy Slavitt. I can write you the user stories, acceptance criteria and UI prototype. 🤙
Anyway, Butler is fond of hard copies. So we registered in paper and the vaccine helpers checked our paper work, waved us to the next room and told us where to stand. We were taken almost immediately.
Swab, steady, pinch, swab, bandaid, back to the waiting area. Set timer for 15 minutes, then we were done!
We were so excited. On the way out, we realized that we had scheduled our appointments at just the right time. There was a line waaaay out the door. No waiting for us. But anyone who scheduled after 12:30 was going to have to wait.
So, that’s the story, people. We both go back on April 9 for our pfollowup Pfizer vaccine.
Go ahead, do it. All your friends are doing it. And it feels like a huge weight off your shoulders when you’re done.
Thanks Pfizer, scientists, manufacturing techs, FDA, CDC, Butler Memorial Hospital, healthcare workers, volunteer staff and Joe Biden!
Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
I’m glad that it went so smoothly! Yes, it was a relief to get through the first one, now I will wait until two weeks from Monday. Supposedly, the second shot may have the greater side effects, but not too bad. I did not get to choose the vaccine, but i was happy to get Pfizer.
I was thinking the other day; if one walks by or comes up to a person without a mask, does it mean that they have been vaccinated, even thought they should still wear a mask, or that they are an idiot who refuses to wear one. Since there will be a lot more people without masks soon, this does become a perplexing question.
I’m guess it’s just a typical maskhole. My aunt and I wore our masks for the rest of the afternoon. She knows all about the dangers of variants. Smart lady.
Yay!! Feels good, don’t it? I’m due for my 2nd shot in a week and I will be celebrating ( allowing for 2-3 days of not feeling good first). What to do? Champagne?
I finally got the shot. My husband called the phone line which is apparently the secret to getting a shot here in GA. If you go online you will never get an appointment it seems. So Wednesday we went and got the Pfizer shot too and are going back in April.
Got an appointment for next Tuesday. Vaccine still appears to be in short supply in Lehigh county.
Come west to Pittsburgh. Mass vax clinics happen here a couple times a week.
I had no luck getting an online appt, even through my hospital group that had previously put me on the list. (Over 65s and teachers got first dibs). But once I registered with the county health department, I got daily updates on where the mass vax sites were and who were eligible. Sometimes, they send out a late update offering the extras they have on hand. The problem was for me, Allegheny county was not taking pre-existing conditions at the ones I could sign up for. They’re only doing them sporadically. I guess I could have waited until Monday but my aunt wanted Pfizer ASAP so we checked nearby Butler county’s site and were lucky enough to get in right away.
So, check every county website around you, sign up for all alerts.
https://www.bitco.win/
Do not click that link. It’s spam.
Congratulations on getting the first shot! It is wonderful that so many people are getting vaccinated. I am very impressed with the Biden administrations efforts.
I also got Pfizer. I felt crappy the day after the second shot, so you might plan to take it easy that day.
The vaccine is free for everyone. Yes, everyone. The US government paid for the vaccine and is providing it for free. You should not have been charged, nor should your insurance company be charged. Maybe they wanted the insurance card to record your vaccination? They did not ask for mine.
Keep your vaccine record — should be on a piece of paper that is given to you with the shot. You will need that for the second shot. It would not hurt to make a copy, paper or electronic.
Um, yeah, maybe the healthcare person misspoke but she told me that since she couldn’t make a copy of my insurance card, I would have to call the hospital billing department and figure out a way of sending them a hard copy. Even Allegheny county’s website makes you upload a copy of your insurance card if you have one.
Now, I don’t know what it is they are billing for. Is it the venue overhead? The staff they have to pay? The actual vaccine? They’re charging the insurance company for *something*. If you don’t have insurance, they can’t bill but most people have private insurance or Tricare or Medicare or Medicaid. So, the fact that they aren’t asking for a co-pay doesn’t mean there isn’t some kind of deal they’re doing with the government. I don’t really care. They could have charged me a reasonable amount ($30-$50 would have been reasonable) and I would have paid out of pocket. But that’s because I have a job and can afford that. No insurance or money? No problem.
All I’m saying is money is being exchanged for something and that’s why you need to present it.
I think the person who spoke to you was ignorant. There is no fee for the vaccine or its delivery into arms. This is nationwide. The hospital billing department or your insurance company should be able to confirm.
“As a condition of receiving free COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government, vaccine providers are prohibited from charging patients any amount for administration of the vaccine.”
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-increases-medicare-payment-life-saving-covid-19-vaccine