{"id":5215,"date":"2021-03-25T09:24:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T09:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=5215"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:42","slug":"durhamites-use-their-wits-and-each-other-to-land-coronavirus-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2021\/03\/25\/durhamites-use-their-wits-and-each-other-to-land-coronavirus-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Durhamites use their wits and each other to land coronavirus vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"
A neighborhood email list promising leftover vaccines launched Bruce, a diabetic Durhamite, on an odyssey. In want and need of a COVID-19 shot, the 76-year-old said he walked through pouring rain to the vaccination clinic at Duke University. <\/span><\/p>\n When he arrived, soggy but hopeful, the nurses told him he had been misinformed \u2014 they were not taking walk-ins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the end of the world, but the principle of it just seemed so crazy,\u201d said Bruce. \u201cIt\u2019s just the whole vagueness and randomness of it all, you know?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bruce, who got the shot days later, isn\u2019t alone. As the gates inch open, Durhamites are still hustling to get jabbed, flooding social media sites for tips to lock down fast-filling vaccination appointments or get leftover shots.<\/span><\/p>\n On reddit pages and Facebook groups, through neighborhood email lists or by word of mouth, people are sharing insights about how to get immunized faster. Many report signing up on waitlists for multiple vaccination sites in and outside of Durham. Some have driven hours to get to well-stocked clinics.<\/span><\/p>\n Most people The 9th Street Journal asked about their vaccine quests declined to share their full names. But their stories display how hard some people are working to get vaccines.<\/span> \u201cIt means freedom!\u201d cheered Becca as she waited 15 minutes in the store for potential post-vaccination side-effects. \u201cIt means I can hug my friends and go to the gym, and it means I can not stress about ending up in the hospital.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Social media crowdsourcing\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Durhamites discussing out-of-county vaccination options are flooding the r\/bullcity reddit board.<\/span><\/p>\n User u\/_Brandobaris_ said he couldn\u2019t find vaccine appointments via the state health department, county health department or Walgreens when he became eligible in late February. So, he got creative.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/span>Becca had more luck than Bruce as a walk-in. She got her first dose of the Moderna vaccine Tuesday by simply showing-up at the Walgreens on Fayetteville Street at the end of the day. Nabbing the leftover dose saved Becca from driving two-and-a-half hours from Durham to a coastal Onslow County clinic that she heard about on her neighborhood email list. But the shot stood for more than saved time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n