To the Editor:

It is amazing that the Covid vaccine has been figured out and distributed as fast as it has. I have nothing but awe for the people who did this. But the process linking the vials to a shot in the arm is a bit clunky.

I have comorbidities and recently went through the process of getting jabbed and thought I’d share my experience and some tips. This letter gives you information that I wish I knew before I went through the process. The punch line at the end of the story is: refresh, refresh, refresh!

So, here is my experience and then comes the advice. The news people said that those with comorbidities could get on the computer to schedule a vaccination beginning Feb. 14. But they don’t tell when and how we could do this. Did they mean I could get on there at 1 a.m. after watching Saturday Night Live? I tried, but there was no sign of activity on the “are you eligible” website maintained by the state.

So, then I tried the next morning (Sunday). Still no activity. It opened up at 9 a.m., but this time had not been posted anywhere. Then, after refreshing a couple of times, I was put on a virtual wait list (of an hour) so I at least knew the website was working and that I was in the right place. When I finally got to the next step, the earliest appointment was in 6 weeks, so I signed up. It is not a very intuitive website. You have to login to each appointment day separately then go backwards to look at the next day. With all of the calendar programs in the world, NY state couldn’t just adopt one of those?

So, at this point I was pleased that I at least had an appointment.

On the news you hear about vaccines going to waste at the end of a day when there are some extra doses, or if people don’t show up for their appointment. I live near the vaccination site in Potsdam and figured it couldn’t hurt to go over at the end of the day to see if there was a standby list. I went over on Tuesday evening when the latest storm was starting to push through; I figured some people would have trouble getting in on the slippery roads. They said that I could not wait at the center, but they did tell me that I can keep on going onto the website to try and sign up for an earlier appointment, even that day, even 30 minutes in advance.

I hadn’t realized that, so I went home, got on the computer and within minutes had signed up for a slot that very same evening. I quickly drove back to the vaccination center and was immediately ushered in. They took my doctor’s note about my comorbidity, the shot was given, I waited my 15 minutes and was out of there! I was so excited to figure out how to get one of the “golden tickets” that I figured I’d better share it with the rest of you who don’t want to wait the typical 3-8 weeks, once you become eligible.

So, the moral of the story is, that if you want an earlier slot, it helps if you keep working on that computer sign-up program. Appointments are quickly made and cancelled and if you watch for them, a time may become available more quickly than you think. If you sign up for an earlier time, it is easy to cancel the later, or they’ll do it when you show up for your early appointment. I think the storm helped in my case, but I imagine that if you are flexible and start refreshing your browser at 4 or 5 p.m. on any given day you might be able to score one of those last few appointments. Good luck on getting that jab, and all of us starting to return to normal lives this summer and next fall.

William Romey

Potsdam