This is the guide on the vaccine against covid-19 3:55
(CNN) -
If she had waited to get vaccinated until it was her "level" turn, Isabela Medina would not have received the injection against covid-19 until late summer.
I was not willing to wait.
Medina, a healthy 25-year-old, moved across the country to live with her parents on the East Coast after her job in the film industry ended.
Eager to get back to work safely, Medina decided in mid-January to go out in search of a vaccine.
Medina guarded the pharmacy of a grocery store.
His goal was to get a leftover vaccine.
She and a friend arrived in the early afternoon, ready to wait.
A line formed behind them.
Hours later, when the day's appointments ended, the pharmacy staff offered eight leftover vaccines.
Medina and his friend happily claimed two of them.
"I felt good about it, and better that it was not wasted," he told CNN.
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LOOK: "We are concerned that most vaccines in the US are used only in privileged people," says doctor
Medina is what many describe on the internet as a "vaccine hunter", that is, a person who stalks a pharmacy or a vaccination center in search of the remains.
These vaccine hunters, encouraged by reports of doses being thrown away and eager for deployment to the country to accelerate, say they want to avoid waste by receiving the vaccine earlier.
They see it as a win-win situation - they get vaccinated and a prized dose of the covid-19 vaccine doesn't end up in the trash.
But his gain is also a symptom of the lack of coordination in America's vaccination plan.
Initial deployment was much slower than expected, delaying President Joe Biden's plan of "100 million vaccines in 100 days."
Biden outlines plans for vaccination against covid-19 2:53
The lucky few - and privileged - who get vaccinated earlier say that what they do is not wrong, although it certainly feels unfair to those who do not have the time or resources to "hunt down" their own dose.
Unsurprisingly, hunters have been criticized for "skipping the line."
But they argue that what they do is more ethical than letting vaccines expire.
"This could be a good way for people who haven't been able to get around the logistical nightmare of signing up to just show up and get it," Medina said.
Vaccine hunting is a 'fix' for slow vaccination
By all counts, the rollout of vaccination in the United States has been disappointing so far.
CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen explained in sobering terms during an interview in January, before Biden's inauguration, how disappointing it has been.
At the current rate, he said, it will take states 10 years to vaccinate 80% of Americans.
The current rate, one million vaccines a week, is nowhere near what is needed to achieve herd immunity in the summer of 2021.
When is immunity achieved after the covid-19 vaccine?
1:06
And despite the incredibly high demand for vaccines, vaccination centers across the country have reportedly thrown away valuable doses that were not delivered on time.
(Both Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines only last a few hours without refrigeration. Pfizer's expire within two hours after the vials are removed from the refrigerator and Moderna's within 12 hours. ).
Hunting vaccines means spending hours of your life, possibly days, waiting for a dose of a vaccine that may or may not be available.
It is a game of chance.
It takes time, money, contacts, and luck to be successful.
But some say it is worth the effort.
Brad Johnson, a medical student at Tulane University, wanted to make searching for vaccines a little easier.
Johnson is the manager of a Facebook group called "NOLA Vaccine Hunters," in which New Orleans residents exchange tips and share tips on how much is left over.
He said he came up with the idea after a friend living in Israel told him about Facebook groups in the country where residents inform each other about pharmacies that have extra doses.
"When there is a surplus dose about to expire, they ignore the vaccination schedule and offer it to anyone," he told CNN.
So, about three weeks ago, Johnson created such a tool for New Orleans.
The group now has about 600 members.
LOOK: Who has New York vaccinated first against covid-19?
Johnson said he has heard that some members have managed to find leftover vaccines for themselves or their parents.
The Facebook group is Johnson's attempt to correct what he called a "mosaic of chaos" in America's vaccine distribution plan.
The United States is projected to reach 514,000 deaths from covid-19 by February 20.
As of last Sunday, more than 20 million vaccines had been administered.
Biden has an ambitious goal of "100 million vaccines in 100 days."
Whether he will be successful is yet to be seen, considering he has been in office for less than a month.
Some health officials believe their target is too modest, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise unchecked.
The Ethical Dilemma Facing Vaccine Hunters
Because there is such high demand for the vaccine and it is so difficult to come by, even for those who are eligible, there is a sense of injustice when otherwise healthy people receive it, even though they are not technically stealing doses from people who do so. they need it, said Melissa Goldstein, associate professor at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health.
"There is this sense of injustice, although we can't necessarily explain why," Goldstein, who studies bioethics, told CNN.
There is no single answer to the question of whether it is ethical to get the vaccine earlier, except in a few situations.
For example, the Hollywood doctor who told
Variety
that some of his rich and famous patients tried to bribe him to get the COVID-19 vaccine sooner, or the Washington state hospital that invited 100 benefactors to sign up for the injection. regardless of their place in the "row."
However, what people did in those situations is not comparable to what happened last week in a Seattle hospital.
There, a freezer failure resulted in 800 vaccines going to waste over a period of hours.
To prevent the doses from expiring, they recruited recipients through social media.
LEE: White people traveled to a very affected Latin neighborhood in New York and took many of the appointments for the covid-19 vaccine
And that situation is also different from that of "enterprising" vaccine hunters, like Medina and Johnson, who seek the leftover doses.
"Can we say that entrepreneurship is an absolute mistake?" Goldstein said.
“It is difficult, because we do have a capitalist and meritocratic system.
We encourage people to network, to be elusive, persistent and determined to get what they want, "he added.
It's also a privilege to have the time and resources to spend hours looking for leftover doses, Goldstein said.
If only people who can afford it are able to get the vaccine ahead of time, disparities in the rate of who gets the vaccine will worsen.
Johnson said some members of the Facebook group have even crossed state lines to get vaccinated.
Some traveled to rural Mississippi towns, where health departments have had trouble distributing all assigned doses because residents are hesitant about getting vaccinated, he said.
It is not an ideal solution, according to him.
But when "motivated people" are willing to get vaccinated, even if not at the time they were assigned their status, Johnson said he thinks they should.
"I am in favor of applying the vaccines and not leaving them alone," he said.
How to Make Early Vaccination Fair
The Medina vaccine hunt lasted three days.
The young woman asked CNN not to reveal her location or the pharmacy where she received the vaccine so as not to bombard them with possible "vaccine hunters."
There were others like her, who spent most of the afternoon waiting.
On a TikTok from that day that has since been viewed more than 1.4 million times, she is seen dancing with a clipboard and happily calling out to someone holding her vaccination card.
In the call he quotes Kamala Harris as saying, "We did it, Joe!"
Her second dose is scheduled for the end of February.
Medina has no qualms about his decision.
She is self-employed rather than having a full-time job, so she was able to put in the time needed to get vaccinated.
"I really am in a socio-economically privileged position where I can wait all day for this vaccine," he said.
"Those vaccination centers have to do a better job and find a way to vaccinate the communities they are supposed to vaccinate," he added.
There are some methods, Goldstein said, that could make early vaccinations a little more equitable.
Grocery store pharmacies may offer leftover vaccine doses to store workers.
Almost 40% of them are black, Latino or Asian, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Florida 76% of those vaccinated are white 3:08
Black and Latino Americans are receiving the vaccine to a lesser extent than whites.
And as essential workers who interact face-to-face with customers, they need to protect themselves to continue their work.
LEE: Whites receive the vaccine against covid-19 in a higher proportion than Latinos and blacks in the United States.
Some vaccination centers with expiring extra doses brought them to long-term care centers to vaccinate older residents and staff.
These two populations are considered especially vulnerable to covid-19.
And Biden has already unveiled a detailed COVID-19 strategy to replace the Trump administration's botched response.
His plan includes the creation of vaccination centers in low-income communities.
Johnson is doing his part, too.
After weeks of trying to reach the Louisiana Department of Health, he said he finally succeeded.
Now, he said, he is working with state health officials to better coordinate who receives the leftover vaccines.
He hopes that they can create an official vaccine waiting list that prioritizes healthcare workers, the elderly and essential workers.
For now, though, support whoever wants to get vaccinated, as long as they don't actually skip the line.
Coronavirus Vaccine
