Local senior shares success story on making appointment to get COVID-19 vaccine

Demand for vaccine crushing supply

DETROIT – With demand for the COVID vaccine so much higher than the current supply, scoring an appointment for the shot can feel like winning some sort of lottery.

However, one local senior managed to get through and become vaccinated.

Jain Lauter who got the COVID-19 vaccine is 66-years-old.

MyBeaumontChart is my lifeline to medicine,” she said.

If you are a Beaumont patient she says using the online MyBeaumontChart is super simple to schedule the appointment.

When she requested the shot on MyBeaumontChart, she also used oakland.gov, and called St. Joe’s and Meijer to try to make backup appointments.

They all took time, but weren’t complicated. Beaumont got back to her immediately.

She got her first dose at Beaumont’s Southfield center.

″Yesterday, went there, parked went in. It was efficient, no line, five people, gave me my shot and no reaction and I left,” she said.

Over the weekend, her husband got his second booster dose.

″Saturday was my husband’s appointment. I went with him and said can you give it to me today. They said no,” she added.

Her husband Carl Lauter, 81, is a doctor of allergy, immunology and infectious disease at Beaumont Royal Oak.

His position had nothing to do with the vaccine strategy she shared.

He says demand is crushing supply right now based on the federal government not buying enough doses at first, and not sending financial help to states for a mass vaccination program.

″The states are competent, but didn’t have the money to develop the programs,” he said.

Both had advice to share: Be persistent when trying to schedule an appointment.

″It is frustration with the click, click, click and calls but once you are there it is very organized,” she said.

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 525,612 as of Tuesday, including 13,501 deaths, state officials report.

Tuesday’s update includes 1,994 new cases and 100 additional deaths.

READ MORE

Read more: COVID-19 vaccine questions? Ask the doctor

VIEW: Tracking Michigan COVID-19 vaccine doses

More: Michigan COVID-19 vaccinations: How to find appointments, info on phases


About the Authors

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

Recommended Videos