‘Falling through the cracks’: Vaccine bypasses some older adults
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of older Americans are spending hours online or enlisting their grandchildren's help to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine. They are the fortunate ones.
An untold number of older people are getting left behind in the desperate dash for shots because they are too frail, overwhelmed, isolated or poor to navigate a system that favors healthier individuals with more resources.
The urgency of reaching this vulnerable population is growing as more and more Americans in other age groups become eligible.
Nonprofits, churches and health care outreach workers are scrambling to reach older people who are falling through the cracks before the nation’s focus moves on and the competition for vaccines stiffens.
Jean Andrade, an 88-year-old who lives alone, has been waiting for her COVID-19 vaccine since she became eligible under state guidelines nearly a month ago. She assumed her caseworker would contact her about getting one, especially after she spent nearly two days stuck in an electric recliner during a recent power outage.
It was only after she saw a TV news report about competition for the limited supply of shots in Portland that she realized no one was scheduling her dose. A grocery delivery service for homebound older people eventually provided a flyer with vaccine information, and Andrade asked a helper who comes by for four hours a week to try to snag her an appointment.
“I thought it would be a priority when you’re 88 years old and that someone would inform me,” said Andrade, who has lived in the same house for 40 years and has no family members able to assist her. “You ask anybody else who’s 88, 89, and don’t have anybody to help them, ask them what to do. Well, I’ve still got my brain, thank God. But I am very angry.”
Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-bypass-some-older-adults-374da36856dd9428643db2c3e85564da
