When Christine Yano got in line at the Forum’s COVID-19 vaccination post earlier this month, she came armed with proof of her eligibility.
Although only 33, Yano qualified because he is the mother of 15-month-old triplets with chronic lung disease.
She showed employees a letter from the Department of Development Services and another from one of the agency’s regional centers. In her arms, she held a stack of medical records that offered more evidence, including an oxygen prescription for her children.
But local workers denied the shot. The letters, they said, can be fake.
“They basically said, ‘Try somewhere else, we won’t take you,'” said Yano.
As California prepares to open eligibility for millions of people with disabilities or underlying health problems, confusion over paperwork can become a major problem at the forefront of the vaccine line.
Eligibility requires proof, but state and local authorities still need to establish what documents will be required, or a direct way to separate fake from real documents.
At vaccination sites, employees often find people using fake documents to try to get vaccines.
LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this month that “hundreds” who are not eligible try to get vaccines every day.
“Some of these people have gone to great lengths to actually establish eligibility when they are receiving nominations from people” who qualify first, said Ferrer.
For most people, checking eligibility was not an issue. People over 65 have a California ID or driver’s license. Healthcare professionals present a badge or other employee identification.
But it gets more complicated for families like the Yanos, who are eligible for the vaccine as health professionals, in the caregiver category.
For verification, they need a letter from the development services agency and another from one of their regional centers. But problems arose after copies of the letters began to circulate among those who were not eligible for the vaccine.
Next month, up to 6 million Californians with disabilities and underlying health problems will qualify for vaccines. The state has not yet determined what kind of evidence they will need. It may include a letter from a doctor on appropriate letterhead, a statement from a federal or state agency, or some other form.
Verification may require a dizzying array of paperwork because the categories that will soon be eligible include a number of underlying diseases, including cancer, chronic kidney disease, Down syndrome and pregnancy, among others.
“It is clear to me that the Department of Public Health and Surgeon General are really concerned about fraud,” said Andy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California, a nonprofit disability advocacy group. He hopes that the difficulties of the past will not lead to an overly complicated process in the future, especially for individuals with less mobility or the sick.
“If the system requires you to see a doctor and receive a detailed letter from a doctor, there will be many people in California who will have a hard time doing this, even if there has not been a pandemic,” said Imparato.
Potential barriers can make access to the system difficult, advocates fear.
“Many people with disabilities, especially those from poor communities, do not have access to regular health care providers. We don’t want to create additional inequality, ”said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United.
State officials, aware of growing concerns about verification, addressed the issue at meetings of the public vaccine advisory committee and a task force that includes members of the Aging, Development and Health Services and Human Services departments. Health officials across the state, meanwhile, await guidance.
“It really is an almost impossible task to put this in each county to find out what types of checks are appropriate,” said Ferrer.
The Yano triplets: Skylar, Peyton and Riley.
(Courtesy of John and Christine Yano.)
Meeting requirements for people like the Yanos, who are already eligible for vaccination, became a problem when the county was hit by the apparent counterfeiting scheme.
Several people took one of the eligibility letters, copied them and distributed them to others, according to Ferrer. It is not clear how many families of caregivers were affected.
Similar reports of family caregivers frustrated by fakes earlier this month surfaced in Facebook groups and in media reports.
Yano and her husband, John, have struggled to meet the medical needs of their triplets – Riley, Peyton and Skylar. Born prematurely at 26 weeks, babies were initially given oxygen 24 hours a day due to chronic lung disease. Her delicate condition faced a new threat when the pandemic struck. Because of their weak lungs, they were more vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus, as well as the potentially deadly multi-inflammatory syndrome known as MIS-C, which infects children exposed to the virus.
Christine did not foresee any problem when driving from her home in El Segundo to the Forum vaccination site. Her husband had been vaccinated four days earlier at Dodger Stadium, and the county accepted his request for an interview.
But when she showed employees the same documentation that John had used, they were not convinced. She showed them more paperwork, but still they said they could not determine whether the letters were authentic.
The next day, Christine tried again – and was rejected again. Officials told her they were vaccinating only licensed health workers that day.
On her third attempt, at Dodger Stadium, she was denied again. But this time she appealed to a supervisor, who examined her records and allowed her to be vaccinated.
Christine rolled up her sleeve for herself and her family and received the injection.
“We have four children under the age of 4. Knowing that we can take care of them is definitely a relief, ”she said.