Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by walrus01 1844 days ago
> 2. I asked them about eligibility and told them I don't clear CA guidelines. They told me it's first come, first served with an ID showing I am 18+.

There are a number of 'special' vaccination sites in the USA which are indeed vaccinating first come, first served people without going through any special qualifications/eligibility check. For instance FEMA was, and still is, running a mass vaccination site in Yakima, WA which was a massive hot spot of infections in WA state.

They quite specifically told the media that they were focused on getting "shots into arms" and not spending a lot of time on each person checking residency documents.

https://www.google.com/search?q=yakima+wa+vaccination+site+f...

Although by the time it opened it was also possible for most people in the Seattle metro area to get a shot without a very long wait, I do know a few people who drove over there and quite clearly showed their drivers license for ID, and got vaccinated without violating any policy or lying about anything whatsoever.

4 comments

This was actually fake news, Yakima fema site had the same eligibility as elsewhere in the state

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/washingtoni...

A good example of how confusing and micro managed the eligibility charade was.

I live in Seattle. What I remember is that they advertised that they were following the same eligibility requirements as everywhere else in the state, but they were having such trouble getting enough people to show up that they put out requests for anyone over 18 to show up. I know a few people who drove out there to get their shots a couple weeks ahead of when they would be eligible to make an appointment elsewhere in the state. None of them lied about their eligibility factors.
My manager drove out to Yakima. While they don't enforce eligibility, I still think it's immoral to try to get a shot when you aren't eligible.
Information you think is wrong isn’t “fake news”. Please don’t be so hyperbolic. It’s akin to calling someone a liar.
There is no “think” there is a quote from the public health officials who make the rules right there
That may have been the policy which was published but the factual reality is that they were vaccinating very nearly any adult who showed up.
> There are a number of 'special' vaccination sites in the USA which are indeed vaccinating first come, first served people

Same here in Canada. Some private clinics have been offering FCFS vaccines to eligible age groups for some time now. I assumed the US must be the same and wondered what the outrage is here. I got messages from people encouraging me to do the same.

> There are a number of 'special' vaccination sites in the USA which are indeed vaccinating first come, first served people without going through any special qualifications/eligibility check.

As well as entire states in certain parts of the USA.

For example, Texas, where you only have to be at least 12 years old[0]. In many cities in Texas, they're at more than 50% and running out of arms to stick them in, and definitely very short or no lines. No idea why California has those requirements instead of just opening up more jab spots.

0. https://dshs.texas.gov/covidvaccine/

This is historical, there are no limitations in CA now. I believe that’s true for the whole country since April 15th. Bay Area removed requirements a few days before that due to higher than anticipated supply.
That makes a lot more sense -- thanks for the data.
However these vaccination sites were set up specifically for underserved communities.

https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210326/california-fema-...

It also doesn't help that this person keeps changing his story all the time. On Twitter he claims that joe Biden announced that all adults are eligible for vaccination in March. This is patently false.

Link to that tweet?
https://twitter.com/Prafulfillment/status/140093960124245606...

"Also I never showed people how to skip a line given the rules for federal vaccination clinics were 18+ and the president announced it the same night as this rant."

The entirety of his reasoning that he didn't show people how to skip a line is based on the false premise that all adults qualified for a vaccine in March. In march, we had a tremendous shortage of vaccines for the 50+.

His tweets in march were super smug memes about what he did - "It is what it is". This simply doesn't jive with his story here that vaguely implies getting left over shots after waiting for hours. A completely different attitude from what he presents here. There is no verifiable history here, but I simply cant take the founder on his word.