(Newser)
– Across the United States, millions of clinically vulnerable people who were initially cited as a priority vaccination group were slowly dropped from the list as the CDC modified its guidelines to favor the elderly, regardless of their physical condition, and workers in a wide range of work sectors, by AP. North Carolina is just one of 24 states that currently places people under the age of 65 with “underlying medical conditions” near the end of the package to receive the vaccine, according to Jen Kates of the Kaiser Family Foundation. A report she wrote last month listed Pennsylvania as the only state to make vaccines available to the medically vulnerable during its first distribution phase. When North Carolina revealed its initial orientation in October, it put people with a variety of chronic illnesses at the top of the list. In response to the CDC’s December recommendations to prioritize people aged 75 and over, however, he ruled out those with chronic conditions for Phase 2.
When the orientation changed again to expand eligibility for those 65 and older, clinically vulnerable residents learned in January that they would be discarded for Phase 4 – to be vaccinated after “essential frontline workers”, but before ” all”. The state’s top public health official said these residents were moved down the list after health officials received data showing that elderly residents are much more likely to die from COVID-19. In response to the frustrations of such patients, states are now revising their guidelines again. On Monday, 28 states, including North Carolina, at least partially opened the vaccine’s eligibility across the state to those with high-risk medical conditions, Kates said. Four other states are making the vaccine available to clinically vulnerable residents living in certain counties. Maura Wozniak, a 42-year-old Charlotte area resident who has cystic fibrosis, she wept with relief when she learned that she might soon qualify. “At least there is a certain window now,” she says.
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