NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) – Seven-year-old carpenter Adoo has earned the nickname “Tiny but Mighty” in short order.
He underwent his first surgery at one week of age and was in the neonatal intensive care unit for four months. He is driven by more than a dozen procedures to safely drain the excess fluid from his brain, and nurses are regularly greeted with hugs and handshakes.
“He handles it all with a grace that I do not know I could ever handle,” said Carpenter’s mother, Leah Williamson, of Memphis.
The carpenter’s medical condition makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, which puts him in a population where there is a struggle over how to prioritize, as the demand is not available in the vaccine. Tennessee joined a handful of states last month to put the families of medically debilitated children like Carpenter on the vaccine priority list. Civil servants bumped them above critical infrastructure workers, grocery store employees and inmates, and ends up in the phase that follows teachers and childcare staff.
Williamson was encouraged but has not yet received answers on when it will be her turn.
As the U.S. death toll from the disease rises to nearly half a million people, the threat to those with chronic health conditions remains high, especially for those under 16 who have not yet been approved for the shots. Williamson hopes it gives the state of Tennessee the urgency to be willing to give a vaccine.
She just knows that the day can not come soon enough.
Before the pandemic, the flu season terrified her. If carpenter, who has hydrocephalus and chronic lung disease, were to catch COVID-19, the damage could be serious.
The upcoming group for vaccine priorities in Tennessee includes people who have or care for children under the age of 16 and who have medical problems, ranging from those receiving chemotherapy to children who use a wheelchair due to high risk.
They may have to wait more than a month and a half to be eligible, according to the recent Conservative timeline from Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey. But the national vaccine landscape is constantly changing, and President Joe Biden says there will be enough doses for 300 million Americans by July 300.
Barbara Saunders, a physician in charge of the Department of Child Development at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said medically debilitated children are having a hard time staying healthy without the threat of a pandemic. She said everything is important to keep them as healthy as possible, including vaccinating the people around them.
“We know that children with medical complications and who are medically fragile are at a much greater risk of developing COVID-19 than their peers who normally develop,” Saunders said. “They also run a greater risk of having serious illnesses and needing hospitalization compared to other children.”
Other California California Eligible Child Care Providers, Oregon, Illinois, South Carolina in New Hampshire. Few make it as explicit as Tennessee, which favors anyone in the household; other states, however, address the caregivers more quickly, and some are already getting shots.
Some states have classified those family members as caregivers or caregivers at home, which they are eligible for. Many states do not address them.
Late last month, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine indicated the prioritization of vaccines as “intestinal” when asked why parents of immunocompromised children had not yet been pushed into the queue.
“It’s not ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” the Republican said at a news conference. “It’s: ‘Yes, if we do you, someone else will be pushed back, or another group will be pushed back.’ ‘
Although research on whether the vaccine cannot stop someone from spreading the virus is still not complete, early indications are positive. AstraZeneca, of which the COVID-19 vaccine is not yet available in the US, has found evidence that its shots may reduce the transmission of viruses. A recent study in Israel revealed similar early findings on Pfizer’s vaccine.
From Williamson’s perspective, the vaccine would contribute to what she’s already doing. She restricts outdoor travel and works at home for a group that supports families of children with special health needs, chronic illnesses or disabilities. These are shoes off before you get into the house, no exceptions. She leaves a packet or two in the backyard for a day and wipes groceries.
‘It’s like a decon (tamination) when I get home, and spray myself, a hand sanitizer -‘ Nobody touches mom! “- because you just do not know,” Williamson said. “We still have to do things, like go to follow-ups and go to doctor appointments.”
At one point, after a visit to the doctor’s office, she was told that someone there had tested positive. She wore masks around the children for ten days, trying to stay in one room and limit their interaction.
Sending one of her four children (two teenagers, one of whom has severe hearing loss and speaking in sign language) and Carpenter’s twin sister back to a personal school is out of the question because of what they could bring back.
Williamson said she is aware of the role race has played in the pandemic, with fewer coloreds being vaccinated. But she says caring for her son is too important to doubt.
‘We are a black family and therefore the question is asked:’ Are you really going to get the vaccine? “Yes, I’m really going to get the vaccine,” Williamson said. “It’s just the thing to trust medicine.”