WEST LEBANON — As soon as registration for COVID-19 vaccine appointments opened to people 65 and older in New Hampshire at 8 a.m. on Jan. 22, Dean Brown logged on.
But Brown, a 76-year-old West Lebanon resident, said he initially had the wrong web address. He eventually landed on the right site vaccines.nh.gov and was able to register. A couple days later, he got an email inviting him to schedule an appointment, but the earliest he could find was at the end of March.
“What I find extremely arrogant is the system’s insistence that we can do everything easily online,” Brown said of himself and his contemporaries in late January. “We grew up with black-and-white TV.”
The initial frustration experienced by Brown and others in those early days has been at least somewhat alleviated as people have become more familiar with the scheduling systems. Even so, the Twin States, like the rest of the country, still have a long way to go to achieve the level of immunity health officials say is required for life to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normal.
As of Saturday morning, more than 86,000 Vermonters, or nearly 16% of residents 16 and over, had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Almost 44,000 Vermonters have received both required doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. In the Upper Valley, more than 7,200 people in Windsor County and 3,700 people in Orange County have had at least one dose.
In New Hampshire, which has more than twice the population of Vermont, more than 160,000 people had received at least one dose as of Thursday. About 75,000 Granite Staters have gotten both required doses. County-by-county information wasn’t available in New Hampshire.
Like Brown, Jack Beatty, a 76-year-old West Lebanon resident, said he logged on to the New Hampshire website when registration first opened last month, but he wasn’t able to make an appointment online. After a few weeks of frustration, he called 211 and finally got a slot on March 31.
“I’m just imagining how long I’ll have to wait for the second shot,” he said.
As of Thursday, New Hampshire had allocated doses sufficient only to vaccinate 85,000 or 26% of the 325,000 people in the current group, dubbed “Phase 1b,” including people 65 and older and younger people with two or more of a list of underlying medical conditions, as well as corrections workers and residents and staff of residential programs for people with developmental disabilities.
New Hampshire plans to begin partnering with Walgreens to add appointments for people in Phase 1b, who otherwise haven’t been able to schedule their first dose in February or March, said Jake Leon, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. Those who have first appointments in April or later should expect to hear from the state, he said in an email.
Last week, Vermont began allowing people 70 and older to begin scheduling appointments, but it has yet to vaccinate nearly 40% of those 75 and older, the group it began vaccinating last month.
While most vaccines in New Hampshire are going to 13 fixed sites, including one at the Lebanon armory and another at River Valley Community College in Claremont, the Vermont program now includes a range of sites such as pharmacies, hospitals and other clinics.
Visiting nurse organizations also are distributing vaccines to homebound Vermonters, including some in the Upper Valley. But Deanna Jones, executive director of the Thompson Senior Center in Woodstock, said they are first offering vaccines to their clients. Jones and her colleagues are putting together a list of homebound seniors they serve who receive care through a private caregiver or family member.
“We’ll pass that on,” Jones said.
While most in the Twin States still await their turn for a shot, health officials are urging people to continue wearing masks and social distancing, especially as new, more infectious strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been identified.
“These new variants may fuel another surge or spike in cases,” said Dr. Jose Mercado, an infectious disease specialist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, in a phone interview last week.
The virus will have less opportunity to mutate as more people are vaccinated, he said. Mercado hopes that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may become available next month — it’s doesn’t require the same type of cold storage that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines do, and it requires only one dose. It would “allow us to vaccinate a lot more people,” he said.
While vaccine rollout frustrations continue for some, they are in the rearview mirror for Brown. As it turns out, he did not need to wait for his March appointment. Earlier this month, a mobile clinic organized by the Upper Valley Regional Public Health Network came to Quail Hollow, the senior living community off Route 10 where he lives. He expects to receive his second dose soon.
“It’s very disappointing, of course,” Brown said last week. “Now what I am I going to complain about?”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
Correction
An earlier photo caption with this story included an incorrect age for Renn Millican. He was getting the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the 70-and-older cohort.
