10 days ago, no one in our family of 4 (2 adults, 2 college-age children) was vaccinated.

Suddenly, all 4 of us are.

Two are J&J vaccine — one & done.

Two have had the first shot of Pfizer — with appointments for the second.

Good news personally.

Bad news societally.

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2/ Not one of the 4 of us got the vaccine in a routine way—a site is open, you qualify, come get the jab.

One traveled to a place where a phone call helped secure a shot (without taking it away from anyone else).

One got an email saying, click HERE, NOW you'll get an app't.

3/ One of us got a message in Slack saying, a site in far southeast DC has extra J&J doses—if you drop everything you're doing & race over there & get in line, you'll likely get your shot.

And we did drop everything, and did get our shots (along with a significant other).

4/ None of that should have worked that way.

It was all a little bit of insider-info. Three different locations, three different settings — each one required a helping hand to make happen.

We didn't step in front of anyone in any of those cases, as far as I can tell.

5/ And a week ago, I thought I might well be the last person in the US who *wanted* a vaccine to get one.

'Opening up' registration for vaccines—at least in DC — means nothing. Just a longer list of people who are willing, but standing in virtual line.

6/ I'm leaving myself registered, so I can see when DC decided it was, finally, my turn to get the jab.

I know there are many places around the country where there is excess capacity — where they can't fill the slots available, where they can't use the day's supply.

7/ One of those, famously for DC residents, is Salisbury, Maryland — out toward the coast. You can drive 2-1/2 hours each way, & they will vaccinate you.

Based on postings on NextDoor, plenty of DC residents are doing that.

But it's a ridiculous waste of time & energy.

8/ Now I wish the federal and state governments would invest the energy to look at demand and supply — to see where the excess shots are and quickly re-route them to places that don't have enough.

We're at close to 4 million shots a day. That is fabulous.