For Stacey Griffith, a New York SoulCycle instructor whose spinning classes are often packed with celebrities, securing a shot of vaccine was simple: she filled out some papers and on Friday made the hour-long trip from Manhattan to a location vaccination against coronavirus on Staten Island.
But after posting on Instagram about her vaccination – and telling a reporter at The Daily Beast that her role as a fitness instructor made her eligible for the vaccine as an educator – Griffith quickly became the subject of a violent reaction.
On social media, commentators questioned how a 52-year-old man in good shape was able to secure a place in the queue in front of essential workers and elderly people at risk. Almost immediately, Ms. Griffith, who has since apologized, seemed to become the latest example of a wealthy or well-connected person gaining improper access to meager doses of vaccine.
The outcry came as authorities across the country struggled to respond to racial and socioeconomic disparities that became increasingly obvious as the distribution of the vaccine continued. And while millions of skilled front-line workers and members of hard-hit populations across the country await their turn to be vaccinated, stories of patients who take advantage of their wealth and personal connections to jump the line have heightened frustration at an already difficult implementation.
“If we leave this to everyone, this is what will happen,” said Dr. Denis Nash, professor of epidemiology at the City University of New York and a former senior municipal health official. “As long as you have a system that allows that kind of thing, there will be people who are part of the system – and people who are connected to those people – who will use it to their advantage.”
This dynamic is taking place across the country and in the world amid a global struggle to secure vaccines and return to a more normal life.
In Florida, state officials said last month that they were investigating reports that a nursing home in West Palm Beach distributed doses to members of a country club and other wealthy donors. Some entertainment and media executives in Hollywood turned to concierge services and private medical offices to ensure quick access to vaccine doses.
And in New Jersey, a hospital in Hunterdon County was attacked after it was accused of allowing financial backers, healthcare executives and their relatives to skip queues weeks before the state started opening eligibility to the general public. Medical center officials said they were operating according to health regulations.
For state leaders and public health experts, the stories are a shocking reminder that the deployment was marked by inequality. The data shows that in some low-income neighborhoods across the country hard hit by the virus, wealthier residents continue to be vaccinated at a faster rate. And in many areas, including New York City, black and Latino residents received far fewer doses than their white counterparts.
These existing disparities only contributed to the furor that erupted after Griffith’s vaccination. The uproar began hours after she posted a photo on Instagram late last week that seemed to show that she received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
“Now I can teach @soulcycle with a little more faith that we will all be fine,” wrote Griffith in the caption.
The state entered Phase 1b of its vaccine implantation last month, which allows police, public transport workers, grocery workers and school teachers to apply for vaccination appointments. But fitness instructors are not included in that list.
“It doesn’t sound like someone who should have been vaccinated against me,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference on Sunday. “I don’t think anyone who comes up and says, ‘Hey, I’m a SoulCycle instructor’ should qualify, unless there is something else there. This should have been detected in the application process. “
Ms. Griffith did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. But in an interview with The Daily Beast, she said her position as an educator made her eligible. She added that “she had the same opportunity as everyone else accessing the Internet and filling out a questionnaire”, and said that her vaccination did not involve “favors” or paying money to skip the line.
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Answers to your vaccine questions
Currently, more than 150 million people – almost half the population – can be vaccinated. But each state makes the final decision about who goes first. The country’s 21 million health workers and three million residents in long-term care facilities were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal authorities urged all states to open eligibility for all people aged 65 and over and adults of any age with medical conditions that put them at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid-19. . Adults in the general population are at the rear of the line. If federal and state health officials can resolve bottlenecks in vaccine delivery, all 16 years and older will be eligible as early as this spring or early summer. The vaccine has not been approved in children, although studies are ongoing. It may take months before a vaccine is available to anyone under the age of 16. Go to your state’s health website for up-to-date information on vaccination policies in your area
You should not have to pay anything out of your pocket to get the vaccine, although insurance information is requested. Even if you are not insured, you should receive the vaccine free of charge. Congress passed legislation this spring that prohibits insurers from applying any cost sharing, such as copayment or deductibles. He imposed additional protections, preventing pharmacies, doctors and hospitals from charging patients, including those without insurance. Even so, health experts fear that patients may run into gaps that leave them vulnerable to unexpected bills. This can happen for those who pay a medical consultation fee with their vaccine, or Americans who have certain types of health coverage that do not fall under the new rules. If you get the vaccine at a doctor’s office or urgent care clinic, talk to them about possible hidden costs. To make sure you don’t get a surprise bill, the best bet is to get your vaccine at a vaccination post in the health department or at a local pharmacy as soon as the vaccines are more widely available.
This must be determined. It is possible that Covid-19 vaccines will become an annual event, as well as the flu vaccine. Or it may be that the benefits of the vaccine last for more than a year. We have to wait to see how durable vaccine protection is. To determine this, the researchers will screen vaccinated people for “innovative cases” – those who fall ill with Covid-19 despite the vaccination. This is a sign of weakened protection and will give researchers clues as to how long the vaccine lasts. They will also monitor the levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of vaccinated people to determine if and when a booster injection may be needed. It is conceivable that people need reinforcements every few months, once a year or just every few years. It is just a matter of waiting for the data.
“In my profession as a health and wellness teacher,” said Griffith, “it is my daily priority to keep my community and its respiratory systems operating at full capacity so that they can fight this virus if they become infected with it. I can only teach them if I am also healthy. “
On Monday, she expressed her regret on Instagram.
“I want to apologize wholeheartedly for my recent action on receiving the vaccine,” she wrote. “I made a terrible error of judgment and that’s why I’m really sorry.”
A SoulCycle spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For public health experts and others struggling to secure their own doses, the situation reflects another breakdown in efforts to ensure that the vaccine reaches the populations in greatest need.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has threatened penalties of up to $ 1 million against medical officials who illegally distributed the vaccine. Last month, Cuomo also launched the idea of criminalizing the administration of the vaccine to anyone who was not eligible under state guidelines. And for some doctors in New York City, the threat of major sanctions has been used to refuse patients who are looking for a quick route to vaccination.
But it is unclear how effective the impediments have been: over the weekend, the University of Rochester Medical Center apologized for offering 26 people linked to the school early access to vaccine doses.
On Sunday, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, New York City’s health commissioner, said that signing up for a vaccination appointment requires people to indicate that they are eligible – and that, since the potential recipients are in a vaccination location in the city, those who cannot prove eligibility with the documentation are rejected.
But for Dr. Nash, the continuing stories of missing lines and unfair distribution are products of a failed implementation. In a better system, he said, people would enter their personal and demographic information and be notified by the city when their turn comes.
“If you wanted to create a vaccine program that could perpetuate – or even worsen or exacerbate existing inequalities – this would be what you would plan,” said Dr. Nash of the existing system. “It’s basically a” come and get it “vaccine.
“If you launch a program that doesn’t pay attention to how it will affect inequality,” he said, “then it is fundamentally flawed.”