RALEIGH, NC (AP) – When Ann Camden learned last month that her 17-year-old daughter was exposed to coronavirus at school and was being sent home, she packed her bags, got in the car and made the two-hour trip to the coast to stay with their newly vaccinated parents.
The 50-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and could not afford to be infected. She was also not eligible, under North Carolina rules, to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. So she left her twin daughters with her husband and ran away to safety.
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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified their guidelines to favor the elderly, regardless of their physical condition. , and workers in a wide range of work sectors.
North Carolina is 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, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy of the Kaiser Family Foundation. A report she wrote to the foundation 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 aged 65 and over, clinically resident Vulnerable people learned in January that they would be dropped to Phase 4 – to be vaccinated after “essential frontline workers”, but before “everyone”.
“When they slid us into group 4, it was very quiet,” said Camden. “It was like, ‘We don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just put it over there. That in itself was a little insulting. “
The state’s top public health official, Dr. Mandy Cohen, said residents under the age of 65 with chronic conditions were moved down the list after health officials received data showing that elderly residents are much more likely to die from COVID -19, although she acknowledges that “age is not a perfect proxy for risk. “
Camden decided not to wait for the state to qualify her. Just two days after she arrived at her parents’ home, a friend put her in contact with a CVS pharmacist in Wilmington, who had spare doses of the vaccine about to go to waste. Camden received an injection of Moderna in the pharmacist’s dining room on February 21.
“It is the responsibility of all of us to take it when we can,” said Camden. “I don’t want to feel guilty or ashamed because I would feel it whenever I could.”
Jon D’Angelo, a 32-year-old resident of Carteret County who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, did not qualify for the vaccine because he does not live in a long-term care facility. He said he skipped the line, but declined to describe where and how he got the vaccine. After a one-minute pause when asked how he justified his actions, he replied, “Justice is more important.”
In response to the frustrations of people like Camden and D’Angelo, states are revising their guidelines again. On Monday, 28 states opened, at least partially, the vaccine’s eligibility across the state to those with high-risk medical conditions, Kates said. Four additional states are making the vaccine available to clinically vulnerable residents living in certain counties.
North Carolina announced this week that it would start vaccinating people aged 16 and over with at least one of 18 risk conditions on March 17. And last week, the state expanded its eligibility guidelines to include people like D’Angelo, who receive home care treatment. D’Angelo is now retroactively eligible for Phase 1, which was launched in December.
“I am happy that they did this, but the fact that it took three months to correct is outrageous,” said D’Angelo.
On Monday, South Carolina expanded eligibility for the disabled and at-risk, and Michigan did so for clinically vulnerable residents 50 and older. California is opening vaccination for the disabled and at risk on March 15.
In Georgia, the governor announced this week that those aged 16 and over with serious health problems will be eligible from March 15. Shana Frentz, 36, with two autoimmune diseases, said she got an appointment at a Georgia pharmacy she started signing. people the day before the announcement. Before that, she had explored the possibility of going to a neighboring state. During the months it took before she became eligible in Georgia, she said that she and others like her felt “kind of left out”.
Maura Wozniak, a 42-year-old Charlotte area resident, has cystic fibrosis and will wait until it’s her turn to be vaccinated. Wozniak was furious at North Carolina’s decision to put her back in line, as this meant a greater delay for her children to return to the classroom. But after learning on social media that she would soon become eligible, she wept with relief.
“They were able to hear calls from high-risk individuals in the state,” said Wozniak. “The fact that we were given a date was promising. Will everything be perfect? No. But at least there is a certain window now. “
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Associated Press editor Anila Yoganathan of Atlanta contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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Anderson is a member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.
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