• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Vaccines and Ski Plans

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
I have a terrible feeling of schadenfreude. Maine has gone to an age-based system. My DD, who is teaching in person, no longer is eligible for a vaccine but I am. We are now open to 60+.
Good, late-breaking news, for your DD, @BackCountryGirl:
https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-...sponse-to-president-bidens-directive/35716534
PORTLAND, Maine —
Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday that the state will begin vaccinating educators in response to President Joe Biden’s directive that educators receive at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the month.

According to the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 36,400 school staff and 16,000 child care providers are eligible under the directive. This is in addition to the 10,632 school staff over the age of 60 already eligible under the Governor’s age-tiered system.

“I share the president’s desire to vaccinate school staff and child care workers as quickly as possible, just as I want to see all Maine people vaccinated as quickly as possible,” Mills said in a statement. “Based on the president’s directive, we are updating our plan today to make school staff and child care workers eligible. We will continue to work day and night with our health care providers to get shots into as many arms as possible, as quickly as possible, focusing our efforts on those most at risk of dying if they contract the virus.”

Mills said Hannaford, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies taking part in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program in Maine have been directed to give access to available appointments exclusively to school staff and licensed child care workers moving forward.

The governor said school staff and child care workers should first check the websites of retail pharmacy partners for vaccine availability.

Already scheduled appointments made by people 60 and older will not be canceled, according to Maine.

She added that vaccine clinics in Maine will begin accepting appointments for school staff and licensed child care workers as soon as they are able.

The governor said the state will continue to establish dedicated vaccination opportunities for Maine school staff 60 and older. More information will be released later this week.
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Remarkably, TN has just opened up eligibility to another 1.1M residents (anyone over 60 with any risk factors, incl HTN), and expects to be getting 300,000 doses/wk by end of this wk, up from 80,000/wk at end of Jan.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
My daughter teaches in CT, and they just opened up vaccines for teachers this week, so she's getting her's today. Vermont is opening for teachers and school staff next week, too. So glad to see this happening!

On another note, I made an appointment on the Vermont health department site on Monday (March 1) -- as soon as it opened up for me -- and got an appointment for March 8, which is this coming Monday. I thought that was pretty good, but yesterday morning I tried the Walgreen's site, and guess what? I got an appointment for today! And another for my second dose, 28 days later! So keep trying, Divas.
 

ski skuhl

Angel Diva
I has been interesting to see the different manner of vaccine rollout in different states. As a resident of Philadelphia though DH and I must abide by the city's guidelines, not the Pennsylvania's. We are both in the eligible group now (1B) but have yet to be contacted for an appointment...trying so hard to be patient. There is an abundance of gratitude in my heart for every dose being administered because that gets us all safer and closer to herd immunity.
 

ski skuhl

Angel Diva
I was able to get my dad booked for his 2 doses through CVS this morning at 6:30am.. finally!! Dose 1 is Sunday, I’m so relieved! CVS’s site is WAY better than the state’s. He’ll be getting Moderna.
I agree, CVS has a great system in place. My dad (only living parent between me and DH) had his first dose at a CVS in Long Branch NJ (no side effects so far but I've prepped him that dose #2 will likely be a different story). From arrival to injection was 14 minutes. They were using Pfizer's.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I agree, CVS has a great system in place. My dad (only living parent between me and DH) had his first dose at a CVS in Long Branch NJ (no side effects so far but I've prepped him that dose #2 will likely be a different story). From arrival to injection was 14 minutes. They were using Pfizer's.

I’m so glad I checked the site randomly this morning. Actually I checked that website that the mom on maternity leave made and it was showing every CVS in MA (that’s doing Covid vaccinations) having availability whereas last night there was nothing showing anywhere in the state. I had around a 10 minute wait in their “waiting room” and then the site was great, no crashes!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program is clearly a game changer now that supplies of the approved vaccines are ramping up. Definitely should help in states where there have been limitations due either because of supply or lack or preparation for a system to make appointments or to give shots to large numbers of people. Presumably being modeled on how flu shots have been handled by neighborhood pharmacies for a while.

Other than prioritizing "teachers and staff in pre-K-12 schools and childcare programs" in March, it's up to the states to decide which other groups are eligible as the vaccine roll out continues.

Last updated March 3, 2021, CDC
Understanding the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/retail-pharmacy-program/index.html
The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination is a collaboration between the federal government, states and territories, and 21 national pharmacy partners and independent pharmacy networks to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination across the United States. This program is one component of the Federal government’s strategy to expand access to vaccines for the American public. The program is being implemented incrementally based on the available vaccine supply, with select retail pharmacy locations providing COVID-19 vaccine to eligible individuals. As vaccine availability increases over time, the program will expand to ultimately include all 40,000+ pharmacies.
Why Pharmacies?
Pharmacists are highly trusted and trained healthcare providers who have direct access to and knowledge of their patient populations. Pharmacists are trained to counsel patients, administer vaccine, and provide vaccine education, and pharmacies are readily accessible in communities – with most Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy. Recognizing this, the federal government made them a key part of its COVID-19 vaccination strategy. While the program will ultimately expand to include more than 40,000 pharmacies, it is important to know that early on, when vaccine supply is still limited, many pharmacies may not have vaccine or may have very limited supply.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program is clearly a game changer now that supplies of the approved vaccines are ramping up. Definitely should help in states where there have been limitations due either because of supply or lack or preparation for a system to make appointments or to give shots to large numbers of people. Presumably being modeled on how flu shots have been handled by neighborhood pharmacies for a while.

Other than prioritizing "teachers and staff in pre-K-12 schools and childcare programs" in March, it's up to the states to decide which other groups are eligible as the vaccine roll out continues.

Last updated March 3, 2021, CDC
Understanding the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/retail-pharmacy-program/index.html
The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination is a collaboration between the federal government, states and territories, and 21 national pharmacy partners and independent pharmacy networks to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination across the United States. This program is one component of the Federal government’s strategy to expand access to vaccines for the American public. The program is being implemented incrementally based on the available vaccine supply, with select retail pharmacy locations providing COVID-19 vaccine to eligible individuals. As vaccine availability increases over time, the program will expand to ultimately include all 40,000+ pharmacies.
Why Pharmacies?
Pharmacists are highly trusted and trained healthcare providers who have direct access to and knowledge of their patient populations. Pharmacists are trained to counsel patients, administer vaccine, and provide vaccine education, and pharmacies are readily accessible in communities – with most Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy. Recognizing this, the federal government made them a key part of its COVID-19 vaccination strategy. While the program will ultimately expand to include more than 40,000 pharmacies, it is important to know that early on, when vaccine supply is still limited, many pharmacies may not have vaccine or may have very limited supply.

I think the pharmacy piece is great! There are a lot more of them local to folks and many already get their flu shot etc. there yearly so it's a familiar environment for doing so. I originally thought my dad was going to have to go to Gillette which is ~45 minutes away, his appointment at CVS is 1.2 miles from his house.
 

bambam

Angel Diva
WE just became eligible atbhome in CT as well as of Mar 1st but wont be getting shots until after ski season as we are at Sunday River for the duration. Guess I’ll use the time to figure out the process in CT.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Woohoo, Maine dropped the testing requirement to go there from Massachusetts altogether today due to our low case count!!! No vaccine required! :fireworks:

Unfortunately MA still requires you to test or quarantine coming back in this direction, but I could also just not leave my house if I chose to. I counted and this week made 15 times that I've tested to go to ME so far this season. I'm looking forward to not being required to do so in that direction now, though I might for the rest of this month since that will finish off my seasonal clinic program. However, a good amount of the people I ski with there have already been vaccinated anyway..

BTW I'll be skiing in ME for the next week through, and including, Monday March 15'th that I have off if anyone is around and wants to meet up. The weekends I have clinics from 9:30-12:30 Saturday and Sunday, but open besides that. Planning on a cross country lesson one day (FINALLY), most likely a day at Saddleback, and then a lot of Sunday River spring bumps on the warm days. :becky: We'll see if I throw in anything else, it can be hard to motivate myself to leave Sunday River when I just ski out my door there.. I do want to do a bunch of skinning at Sunday River if I can fit in a morning or afternoon some of the weekdays as well.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Given that a number of Divas have trips planned to Utah in the next month or so, here's the latest about vaccinations there. The statistics and list of eligible people is from March 5, 2021. Utah is going to start vaccinating people age 50 and over on March 8.

https://coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine/


7 facts you need to know about COVID-19 vaccines

Fact #1
COVID-19 vaccines don’t give you COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain any part of the virus, so it can’t cause you to get COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines protect you from the virus. You may get side effects after you get vaccinated, like a sore arm or fever. These are normal and common.

Fact #2
COVID-19 vaccines are safe, even though they were developed quickly.

No steps were skipped developing COVID-19 vaccines. Scientists around the world have been working on this technology for more than a decade. This is why it was possible to make a safe and effective vaccine available very quickly.

Fact #3
COVID-19 vaccines may protect you against more than one strain of the virus.

Viruses change, or develop small mutations, over time. Data shows COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the strains we’ve seen so far of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Fact #4
COVID-19 vaccines don’t change your DNA.

COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA vaccines and don’t interact with your DNA in any way. They trigger an immune response that creates antibodies to protect you from getting infected with COVID-19.

Fact #5
COVID-19 vaccines have not been linked to infertility or miscarriage.

COVID-19 hasn’t caused infertility in women who’ve had the virus, so there’s no reason to think the vaccine would cause it. No other vaccine has ever been found to increase any risks for unborn or breastfed babies, or for pregnancies. There was some information spread online that was not true; saying that the protein in the vaccine attacks a protein in the placenta. This is not true. The small number of amino acids in the two proteins would not cause that effect. COVID-19 vaccines haven’t been tested in pregnant women, but pregnant women do get vaccinated for other illnesses during pregnancy. Pregnant women have an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 and there is a chance you could give COVID-19 to your baby after he or she is born. Talk to your doctor to see if you should get vaccinated.

Fact #6
COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain microchips or tracking devices.

Misinformation that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips or tracking devices has been proven false. We know exactly what is in each vaccine. The list of ingredients in each vaccine can be found here.

Fact #7
People with chronic diseases or conditions should get vaccinated as soon as it is your turn to get the vaccine.

If you have a chronic disease, like diabetes, you are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for people with chronic diseases or conditions.

Screen Shot 2021-03-05 at 9.20.37 PM.png
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
May 10th I got my 2ns booster. Is this going to be an every six month thing?
The most recent guidance I’ve seen is every 4-6 months is likely for 50+ or those with certain underlying issues. Not sure what that means for the under 50 crowd. I only have one booster since a second hasn’t been recommended for me yet, and then caught Covid for the first time in late April. I actually got pretty sick for a few days, but it was pretty similar to and much quicker of a recovery than when I’ve had the flu in the past at least. I’d prefer not to get it again though.
 

2ski2moro

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am vaxxed and boosted, yet got Covid about a month ago.

Don’t forget to ask your doctor when it’s safe to get boosted again. Don’t just follow the “guidance.” Getting a booster too soon after Covid can be dangerous.

Here’s my anecdotal story. My case felt like seasonal allergies. Started with a cough, then went to a stuffy nose. I was a little tired, which I attributed to heavy partying at my class reunion. I had no aches or fever. I lost my sense of taste on the 3rd day and tested positive. I had just driven 800 miles home with full-blown Covid! I had stayed with unvaxxed friends for a week during the reunion, they never got it. My fully vaxxed/boosted husband never got it when I got home. The cough lasted about 2 weeks. Annoying, but not bad.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I am vaxxed and boosted, yet got Covid about a month ago.

Don’t forget to ask your doctor when it’s safe to get boosted again. Don’t just follow the “guidance.” Getting a booster too soon after Covid can be dangerous.

Here’s my anecdotal story. My case felt like seasonal allergies. Started with a cough, then went to a stuffy nose. I was a little tired, which I attributed to heavy partying at my class reunion. I had no aches or fever. I lost my sense of taste on the 3rd day and tested positive. I had just driven 800 miles home with full-blown Covid! I had stayed with unvaxxed friends for a week during the reunion, they never got it. My fully vaxxed/boosted husband never got it when I got home. The cough lasted about 2 weeks. Annoying, but not bad.

I had horrible body aches, a really bad cough, fatigue like I’ve never felt before (truly had to sit and rest after taking a shower one morning because I was so tired), fever, headache, brain fog, sore throat which was my first and quickest to resolve symptom, runny nose, and weird shortness of breath just walking across the house and I couldn’t take the dog out for walks because I’d be huffing and puffing.

My slight sore throat (I was hoping was allergies) started on a Wednesday. I tested for the heck of it and that was negative. By Thursday night/early Friday morning I woke up at 2am sweating with a fever, worse sore throat, headache, and body aches starting. That was the oh #### moment that it definitely wasn’t allergies. Tested when I woke up Friday morning and I was positive with a home test. Progressively felt worse with cough starting Friday evening. The weekend I felt horrible, but by Monday/Tuesday my fever broke and most symptoms had subsided except for my fatigue that lingered for the rest of that week but improved each day and my cough that lingered for longer. It took me 12 days for a home test to just have a faint positive line. My fiance’ never got any symptoms or tested positive. He tested each morning before work and masked in the house and out in public. I also masked in the house when he was home. We ate and slept separately but I did not fully isolate from him. We tried to stay a good distance apart though and kept windows open as much as possible (still chilly in April) and used fans for circulation and air purifiers. Happily I never lost my sense of taste or smell, but I did feel like some food and drink tasted a bit off that weekend.

I had a prescription filled for Paxlovid from a Telehealth appointment on the Friday as a “just in case” ahead of the weekend, but I didn’t end up taking it. I have a family member who took it and ended up with horrible GI issues from it that lasted weeks. I took a wait and see approach until I was at the 5 days limit from symptoms starting and by then I didn’t feel insanely bad so I decided to forego taking it. I came close to choosing to take it when my shortness of breath was at it’s worst. I am happy I had been vaccinated and boosted as I’m not sure if it would have been worse if I hadn’t, and it was bad enough with it. After 2+ years I had been thinking that maybe I was someone who had had it without knowing because I was asymptomatic, but this experience showed that this was very highly unlikely given my reaction with this infection.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
26,235
Messages
497,604
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top