We found out several weeks ago that COVID-19 vaccines would be available for all Hoosiers aged 16 and up on March 31st. None of us could believe it as it was only a few weeks ago that immunizations were available for those over forty. When the announcement happened I started to research vaccination clinics in our area that had the Pfizer dose. It was the only one that was approved for sixteen and seventeen year olds. There were several close to us and Cameron and I agreed that we would drive an hour or more if it meant that he'd get a vaccine as soon as possible. I also checked out the availability of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine as Cal wanted the one and done shot. Places were a little harder to find for him because he was only available on certain days of the week due to his work schedule and social life. I did finally find something that I thought would work for him and made a list of dates and clinics for both he and Cam. That way I'd be prepared when the immunizations schedules opened up for them.
My plans went out the window when the governor announced on Monday that those thirty and up could sign up for COVID vaccinations. All of the places that I had checked earlier for Cameron had become full by Tuesday night and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Cam also had a few conflicts in April due to my plans to travel to Florida with Doug and his interterm and golf schedules. We decided that if we had to we would delay our trip to Bloomington to get him an appointment. Cal wasn't as much of an issue since he decided that he would go to the Indy Speedway to get his shot. There were plenty of appointments available for those dates. Last night I rechecked all of the clinics close to us with a Pfizer vaccine and wrote down the best case scenarios for Cam. I even stayed up late just in case the website opened appointments at midnight last night. Unfortunately, they did not.
This morning I got up early before school and tried to log on to the health department website with my phone, but the age groups still hadn't changed. By the time I got my computer up and running the age had changed, but it was a 22 minute queue to sign up. I started to worry that we would be late to school, but decided that Bethany would understand if Cam was tardy. While I was waiting to schedule Cam's appointment, I was finally able to get on the website with my phone. I hoped that I would be able to use that to schedule Cal shot or have it ready for Cam in case I got disconnected on my computer.
At 8:22 I was finally able to start looking through appointments. I was glad that I had researched the site earlier as I could flip through the clinics a lot easier than if I had just started this morning. I tried the Goshen clinic first but its first appointment was April 12th. I hoped for something better with Elkhart, but they were already booked out until April 24th. The next site I planned to try was the St. Joseph Clinic at Hedwig. When I first clicked on it, I couldn't believe it. They had an appointment today at 1:40 p.m. I started cheering and then made sure that Cam was up to driving to South Bend this afternoon. He was more than up for it and I set up the appointment. It was only when I got to the end of the sign up process that I realized that I had clicked on the wrong St. Joseph and actually got the Regional Medical Center in Plymouth. I couldn't believe my good luck as had I picked the correct St. Joseph, Cameron would not have gotten an appointment for today. By the time Cam and I arrived at Bethany I also had secured an appointment for Cal on the date and time that he wanted.
I hurried home, exercised and showered before I had to be back to Goshen to pick up Cameron. His friends were all impressed that he was getting the shot already. I let him drive to Plymouth and he did a nice job even though our path took us on US 6 and US 31. Right when we pulled into the parking lot of the medical center, Cameron's phone rang. Our hearts sank. Both he and I were a little nervous on the way over that we were going to the wrong site or that he couldn't really get vaccinated today. It just all seemed too good to be true. It was the health director from the center on the phone, but she was actually calling to confirm our appointment for tomorrow. Cam looked at his text and verified with me that it was today. She double checked as well and said that she was wrong and to come on into the facility. She met us at the door to lead us through the sign in process. Cam was the clinic's first and only under eighteen year old on the schedule today. Once they made the changes to the registration process due to his age, we were off and running. He got his shot by 1:00 p.m. and by 1:15 we were on our way to Arby's drive thru to celebrate. I told Cam that we could go home and sit out the rest of the day of school, but he wanted to go back to Bethany so he could share the good news with all of his friends before he had golf practice. It was a lot of time in the van today, but definitely well worth it. I smiled the rest of the night.
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