We're really fucking up the vaccine rollout in Minnesota -- in essence what Sen Ann Rest

[progree]

DFL New Hope, District 45 is saying. From her constituent email newsletter dated Jan 24:

Last week MDH launched a program to allow people 65+ to sign up for appointments for the vaccine. It was a disaster. Some constituents or a family member were on the phone waiting for five hours only to get an appointment in Marshall or to be dropped completely. There is only one site in Hennepin County where 20 percent of Minnesota’s population lives. One local couple, feeling desperate, flew to Billings, Montana, for the vaccine and will return in four weeks for their second dose. Other states are doing what appears to be a much better job. Illinois started with an age threshold of 85+ and that seems to be working smoothly. So too are the programs in Georgia and North Carolina. Our system crashed, totally predictable. There may be reasons, but there is no excuse.

Emphasis added by Progree.

Personally, I'm extremely very mad as hell that people over age 65 are seemingly betting prioritized over, for example frontline dental workers. I'm over 65, but I would gladly, very gladly, give up my slot so my hygienist can get vaccinated. As I'm retired, and the only place I have to go is the grocery store, and even that is a choice.

And as she indicates, why not start with those 85+ first -- their fatality rate is much higher than say that of a 65-70 year old.

Background for out-of-staters reading this: DFL is what the Democratic Party in Minnesota is called. Our governor is a Democrat, as is Senator Rest.
MDH is the Minnesota Department of Health.
Marshall is way out in the toolies (the southwest corner of the state) while Hennepin County is Minneapolis and its suburbs and exurbs, all in the eastern part of the state.