Vaccination rules based on Covid-19 age are questioned

Younger people will become eligible in stages. Both states have created an exception for people working in education.

David Margolis, who lives in Stamford, Connecticut, said he expected his 21-year-old son, who has a rare genetic disorder that makes him more susceptible to a serious case of Covid-19, to be included in the next group of people eligible for the vaccine. Instead, he will have to wait until at least May, when Connecticut will open vaccines for his last group, aged 16 to 34.

“We were amazed. We are heartbroken, ”said Margolis, 63.“ How you take this population of people who have these underlying conditions and just throw them aside is beyond me ”.

Disability Rights Connecticut, a nonprofit group representing people with disabilities, filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Civil Rights Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last month, claiming that Connecticut’s new policy discriminates against people with disabilities. deficiency.

Eligibility criteria for Covid-19 vaccines vary by state, but all have given priority to vaccinating their older residents and healthcare professionals. The vast majority also follow the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give priority to people with underlying high-risk medical conditions and essential workers.

Many states have changed eligibility rules as they go along, creating confusion for residents. California has temporarily suspended the opening of vaccines for essential workers to speed up the process, but has since allowed food and agriculture workers to be vaccinated. On March 15, people with underlying medical conditions will be eligible.

Maine and Connecticut officials say launching the age-based vaccine is a faster and more efficient method that will prevent further deaths. It eliminates the complications of choosing which occupations and medical conditions would qualify and verifying that information. In addition, state health officials have concluded that age is the most important factor in determining whether someone with a serious case of Covid-19 lives or dies.

“There is a lot of fear out there, justifiable fear, of catching the virus,” Maine governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, told a news conference last week. “The decision we are making is the one that will most benefit people and save the most lives.”

She acknowledged that some people with underlying medical conditions would be disappointed by the change. According to the new state plan, the last eligible age group, 29 or younger, may be vaccinated in July.

Josh Geballe, Connecticut chief of operations who helps guide the state’s pandemic response, said that prioritizing essential workers and people with underlying medical conditions was impractical, given the challenge of checking occupations and health details.

In addition, the number of Connecticut residents with qualified medical conditions and essential workers could have reached 1.5 million, said Geballe. Currently, there are not enough vaccine doses for this, so the state would have to create another level of prioritization within these groups, further complicating efforts, he said.

“Our strategy was really designed to ensure that we move forward as quickly as possible, to reduce Covid’s deaths and serious illnesses and also to give us the best opportunity to have equality in our vaccine distribution,” said Mr. Geballe. “We remain convinced that this strategy is the best one to achieve both goals.”

Many young essential workers were dismayed to learn that they have to wait longer for the vaccine. Allyson McCabe, a 21-year-old assistant front-end manager at a Stop & Shop in Simsbury, Connecticut, called the state’s new vaccination rules “a slap in the face”.

“We faced this Covid from day one and we didn’t get any thanks for it,” said McCabe.

Some medical professionals say the approach raises questions about justice and may further exacerbate the inequalities created by the pandemic.

“The question for society is: is this approach equitable? And, in my view, I think we can take a different approach and have a fairer implementation, ”said Bonnie Swenor, director of the Disability Health Research Center at Johns Hopkins, who believes that people with underlying medical conditions should qualify earlier.

Arthur Caplan, director of the medical ethics division at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University, said that due to the difficult launch of the vaccine in the United States, prioritizing age makes sense instead of trying to fix a dysfunctional system.

“I think that just disclosing should be our goal,” said Caplan. “I’m willing to, unfortunately, sacrifice a little bit of equity at this point.”

Write to Joseph De Avila at [email protected]