For Stacey Griffith, a SoulCycle instructor in New York, whose highly coveted turnaround classes are regularly littered with celebrities, it was easy to get a dose of vaccine: she filled out paperwork and left Manhattan on Friday after vaccination against coronavirus in the States Iceland.
But after posting on Instagram about her vaccination – and a reporter from The Daily Beast saying that her role as a fitness instructor qualifies her for the vaccine as an educator, Ms Griffith quickly became the subject of a fierce setback .
On social media, commentators questioned how a well-known 52-year-old could secure a place in the queue in front of essential workers and seniors at risk. Me. Griffith, who has since apologized, appears almost immediately to be the latest example of a wealthy or well-connected person gaining improper access to rare vaccinations.
The outcry came as officials across the country struggled to respond to racial and socio-economic disparities that are becoming increasingly obvious as vaccine distribution continues. And while millions of eligible frontline workers and members of hard-hit populations across the country are waiting to be vaccinated, stories of patients exploiting their wealth and personal commitments to jump the line have exacerbated frustrations over an already rocky rollout .
“If we leave it to everyone, that’s what’s going to happen,” said Dr. Denis Nash, a professor of epidemiology at City University of New York and a former senior health official in the city. “As long as you have a system that makes these kinds of things possible, there will be people who are part of the system – and people who are connected to the people – who will use it to their advantage.”
This dynamic is playing out across the country and the world amid a worldwide scramble 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 was handing out doses to members of an outdoor club and other wealthy donors. Some Hollywood entertainment and media executives have turned to porter services and private medical practices to ensure quick access to the vaccine dose.
And in New Jersey, a hospital in Hunterdon County came under fire after being accused of allowing financial supporters, managers of a health care network and their family members to skip walks weeks before the state began to be eligible for the general public. Officials at the medical facility said they were working in accordance with health regulations.
For state leaders and public health experts, the stories are frightening reminders that the deployment was marked by inequalities. Data show that richer residents in some low-income neighborhoods across the country are being hit harder and faster, being vaccinated faster. And in many areas, including New York City, residents of Black and Latino received far fewer doses than their white counterparts.
These existing differences only contributed to the anger that erupted after the vaccination of Ms. Griffith. The uproar began hours after she posted a photo on Instagram late last week that revealed she was receiving a first dose of Modner vaccine.
“Now I can teach @soulcycle with a little more faith that we will all be fine,” she said. Griffith in the caption.
The state entered phase 1b of the vaccination of vaccines last month, which enables police officers, public transport workers, grocery stores and public-looking school teachers to report for vaccination. But fitness instructors were not included in the list.
“It does not sound like someone had to be vaccinated for me,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference on Sunday. “I do not think anyone who shows up and says, ‘Hey, I’m a SoulCycle instructor,’ should have qualified unless there’s another factor. It should have been caught 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 that her position as a teacher qualifies her. She added that she “has the same chance as everyone else has by going online and filling out a questionnaire,” and said her vaccination did not pay ‘favors’ or money to skip the queue.
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Answers to your vaccine questions
At present, more than 150 million people can be vaccinated – almost half of the population. But each state makes the final decision about who goes first. The country’s 21 million health workers and three million residents of long-term care facilities were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal officials called on all states to be eligible for all ages 65 and older and for adults of any age with medical conditions at risk of becoming seriously ill or to Covid-19 to die. Adults in the general population are at the back of the queue. If federal and state health officials can clear up bottlenecks in the distribution of vaccines, everyone 16 years and older will be eligible as early as spring or early summer. The vaccine has not been approved in children, although studies are underway. It can take months for a vaccine to be available to anyone under the age of 16. Visit your health website for recent information on vaccination policies in your area.
You do not have to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine, although you will be asked for insurance information. If you do not have insurance, you should still receive the vaccine free of charge. Congress passed this spring legislation that prohibits insurers from applying any cost sharing, such as a co-payment or deductible. It was based on additional protection that pharmacies, doctors and hospitals prevented from patients, including those who were uninsured. Nevertheless, health experts are concerned that patients could end up in loopholes that make them vulnerable to surprising bills. This can happen to those who charge a doctor’s fee along with their vaccine, or Americans who have certain types of health coverage that do not fall under the new rules. If you get your vaccine at a doctor’s office or an urgent clinic, talk to them about possible hidden charges. To make sure you do not get a surprise bill, this is the best way to get your vaccine at a vaccination center or local pharmacy once the shots are more available.
It must be determined. It is possible that Covid-19 vaccinations will become an annual event, just like the flu shot. Or it could be that the benefits of the vaccine last longer than a year. We have to wait and see how durable the protection against the vaccines is. To determine this, vaccinated researchers are monitoring people to look for “breakthrough cases” – those who become ill with Covid-19 despite being vaccinated. This is a sign of weakening of protection and will give researchers clues as to how long the vaccine will last. They will also monitor the levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of vaccines to determine if and when a booster shot is needed. It is possible that people need boosters every few months, once a year or only every few years. It’s just a matter of waiting for the data.
“In my profession of health and wellness as a teacher”, said me. Griffith said, ‘it’s my priority to make my community and their respiratory systems work at full capacity so that they can fight this virus if they are infected by it. I can only teach them if I am healthy myself. ”
On Monday, she expressed regret on Instagram.
“I would like to apologize to my heart for my recent actions in receiving the vaccine,” she wrote. “I made a terrible mistake of judgment and I regret it.”
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 the vaccine goes to the population in greatest need.
Government Andrew M. Cuomo has threatened fines of up to $ 1 million against medical workers illegally distributing the vaccine. Last month, Mr. Cuomo also criminalized the idea of criminalizing the administration of the vaccine to anyone who does not qualify according to state guidelines. And for some doctors in New York City, the threat of huge sanctions has been used to turn down patients who want a quick vaccination.
But it’s unclear how effective the deterrents were: the University of Rochester’s medical center apologized over the weekend for providing 26 people with ties to the school early access to doses for vaccination.
Dr. New York Health Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi said on Sunday that filing a vaccination for people requires people to indicate their eligibility – and that once potential recipients are at an urban vaccination site, those who are not eligible can not come. with documentation is turned away.
But for dr. Nash are the continuing tales of skipped lines and unfair distribution products of a flawed deployment. In a better system, he said, people would enter their personal and demographic information and be notified by the city.
“If you want to design a vaccine program that will perpetuate the existing inequalities – or even exacerbate or exacerbate them – then this is the one you will design,” said Dr. Nash said about the existing system. “It’s basically a vaccine-and-get vaccine.”
“If you set up a program that does not address how it is going to affect inequalities,” he said, “then it is fundamentally flawed.”