Carina Wytiaz has been in a tight pandemic bubble. Her pod has immunocompromised people in it including her mother who has had cancer and is in her 70s. As soon as vaccine rollout information started coming in, Wytiaz was on it.
“This is a thing I know I can do,” said the 44-year-old marketing director in Provo, Utah, who has worked in software for 25 years. She snagged some of the first appointments for her mom and dad.
When the relief wore off, she decided to keep going. Her county has a 10-minute window to fill out the form, “so I would find the appointment first and then start calling people,” Wytiaz said.
February 6, 2021
NEW YORK Last month Ellen and Gary Goldberg, retirees who live in Bellmore, Long Island, spent three fraught days trying to get appointments for a COVID-19 vaccination. Every website they checked recommended trying again in March. They called the hotlines for New York state and Nassau County, but both were jammed with calls.
Gary Goldberg, 75, then came across a stranger’s post in a neighborhood Facebook group: “If anyone has a family member, friend or knows someone who is elderly and needs help preregistering or registering online for the COVID-19 vaccine, I am happy to help,” it said. The person was not asking for money and said, “I don’t care how long it takes.”