[Arnt]

You read that? I can get either in a day or two if I need it, they want much longer-term planning though.

For a vaccination I'll call several weeks in advance. If I want an appointment before/after work I'll call well in advance, if I want something tomorrow they may say "11:30, take it out leave it", which isn't great for my work.

Don't trust whoever wrote what you read there. FUD scaremongers.

[microtonal]

For vaccinations like the flu shot [1], I call them or send them an e-mail and then I can usually come by any morning I like without an appointment (they'll just administer the shot between appointments, since it does not take much time).

When we lived in Germany, we got TBE shots (area with a lot of ticks that carried it). IIRC we could also get an appointment in a few days.

(Though I think with vaccinations it's similar in the US.)

[1] Not eligible yet, so I pay 25 Euro to get one every year. Worth it for not getting the flu.

[Arnt]

Weird what people will believe.

In this case GP probably knows that e.g. Italy has a life expectancy well above that of the US. Still, when he read that well-off people in the US have much better health coverage and it takes months to see a doctor in Italy, he believed it. How is it even possible to believe such a thing when you know the numbers?