I am now back home after getting dose 1 of the Pfizer vaccine. So far, zero side effects (though they might potentially happen later). Here are some points about my experience that perhaps might be useful to others:
In many states, K-12 teachers who are not teaching in person and are not required to do so even after getting priority vaccination, come ahead of university teachers who ARE teaching in person. Very quickly, I was informed that some other states are in fact prioritizing higher education employees, including the nearby state of Maryland, and that I should just go get a dose hour.
Thus, within hours, I secured an appointment in Maryland. How? Because, if you are eligible under Maryland's criteria, they are not allowed to discriminate based on residency. That isn't some clever legal argument I came up with. It's right there in the Maryland health department's own publicly available guidelines that they send out to vaccination providers!
I was able to sign up on the CVS website. Many other providers also have sign-up websites that you can use regardless of whether you are also registered with the state health department (doing the latter puts you in the queue for possible appointments, but offers no guarantees about when your turn will come). Other active providers with vaccine registration websites are listed at the Northern VA vaccine hunter website linked below (it also has relevant links to each provider). They include Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Safeway, Kroger, and a number of mass vaccination sites, among others. CVS strikes me as the most user-friendly of the sites, however.
By using these kinds of links, I was able to secure appointments for both myself and our children's nanny (who has been eligible in Virginia for some time). But it took a great deal of effort.
Appointments open up at irregular times. But most commonly either late at night, around 2 or 3 AM (when I got mine) or early in the morning, especially on Fridays (when we got the appointment for our nanny).
None of the above information (including Maryland's policy on vaccinating nonresidents) is secret. But much of it is hard to find unless you know what you're looking for.
As my last point suggests, in the name of equity and efficiency, we have created a system that is neither equitable nor efficient. It is particularly hard on people who aren't good at using the internet, have limited English proficiency, or both. The system rewards night owls, the techno-savvy, people with connections, and those willing to stretch the truth (see below on that last point).
Once you have the appointment, the process is simple. You arrive a few minutes before you are scheduled to get your dose. The CVS staff is very capable and professional. They check your temperature, give you a place in line, and you get your shot. All within just a few minutes. You then wait for 15 minutes, to make sure you don't have a strong negative reaction (these are extremely rare).
Other than checking ID to make sure you have the same name as the person who signed up for the appointment, the staff make little if any effort to confirm your eligibility for the vaccine. I came armed for bear, and brought with me my ID and a copy of the Maryland Health Department bulletin for vaccine providers (in case they questioned my eligibility based on the fact that I am not a Maryland resident). They couldn't care less about any of that. The philosophy (which I agree with! seems to be that if you have an appointment, they want to give you your shot and get you out the door as soon as they can. If my experience is typical (and I have heard similar stories from others), you can put down almost any reason for eligibility you want (occupation, health conditions, etc.) and it's highly unlikely they will check it. Though one exception might be if you say you're over 65 and your ID (which usually has a date of birth) says otherwise. That aside, pretty much anyone can say they are a teacher etc., and it's unlikely to be questioned. I'm NOT advocating that people lie about these things. But this is how the system seems to work.
Reports indicate that eligibility rules may soon be loosened further, and more appointment slots will open up soon, at a variety of sites. The system is flawed and some of those flaws are maddening and inexcusable. But is considerably better than it was several weeks ago, and is likely to keep improving. So don't lose hope!