I previously reported the difficulty that I was encountering in my attempts to get the COVID vaccine. But what used to be merely annoying has now become cruel. On Friday I was, for the first time, offered a chance to book a vaccination appointment on the Publix site. But the nearest available appointment was in Jacksonville – 5 hours away!. Today I did a bit better: I was offered an appointment in Flagler County, a mere 4-hour drive. I declined both. My limit is probably 2.5 hours of driving each way – a total of 10 hours of driving (2 trips of 5 hours each).
To twist the knife a bit more, Lee County called me tonight to schedule an appointment at the mass vaccination site in Fort Myers – hardly any driving at all. I was pretty excited. But after going through a long list of eligibility questions which I answered satisfactorily the interviewer said “let’s see when the next available appointment is.” Pause. Then “Oh, I am so sorry, but the last available appointment for February was just filled. We will have to call you back.”
As a software designer I have to say that failing to reserve a slot at the beginning of the interview is an egregious design flaw. If they hadn’t called I would have been fine. But calling and getting my hopes up, only to have my hopes dashed so viciously is just cruel.
It is becoming apparent that I will not be leaving Florida by early April as I had hoped. I will have to stick around and let them twist that COVID knife a bit more.