I have two small children below the age of 3. The oldest has had every available vaccine up to the newest updated COVID-19 vaccine. The youngest has recently reached the vaccine age. Despite this, it’s been incredibly hard to get them vaccinated with the updated vaccine. Here are the hurdles we’ve faced.

• The pediatrician’s office (part of a large regional hospital chain) will only vaccinate 12-years-old and up.

• Our oldest sees a cardiologist at the children’s hospital in the closest major city to us. They have recently changed their policy to only vaccinate inpatients against COVID-19.

• Our local health department has did not receive any updated vaccines for a while.

• When they did we called to schedule an appointment for the two kids. They will only vaccinate uninsured people as part of the Bridge Program. When asked if we could just not use our insurance they said it doesn’t work that way.

• Using the link in this post we searched for more locations that could possibly vaccinate our kids. There were options in the neighboring state, which we live close to. Called to schedule but they only vaccinate people from in that state.

• The website is not updated. There are actually a lot of places available, just most of them are part of the Bridge Program as well.

• The only place close enough to us is 2.5 hours away, oddly enough in one of the reddest parts of our red state.

• We call to schedule. They only vaccinate on random Wednesdays and will not schedule more than a few weeks out.

• Convinced them to schedule a date in December, 8:00 am on a Wednesday. I’ll have to take off work. Spouse can’t go because no more PTO. This is the last PTO I have for my contracted year.

Edit: Greatest healthcare in the world