RALEIGH, NC (AP) – When Ann Camden learned last month that her 17-year-old daughter had been exposed to the coronavirus at school and sent home, she packed up her belongings, jumped in the car and made the two-hour ride kiss then to go stay with her recently vaccinated parents.
The 50-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and could not afford to become infected. She also could not receive a COVID-19 vaccine according to North Carolina rules. So she left her twin daughters with her husband and fled to safety.
Across the United States, millions of medically vulnerable people who were initially named as a leading group for vaccinations have slowly stormed the list as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its guidelines to benefit 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 place people under 65 with ‘underlying medical conditions’ near the bottom of the pack to receive the vaccine, according to Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of the World Health and HIV Organization. policy at the Kaiser Family. Foundation. A report she wrote for the Pennsylvania Foundation last month as the sole state that makes vaccinations available to medically vulnerable people during the first distribution phase.
When North Carolina announced its first guideline in October, it put people with multiple chronic conditions at the top of the list. However, in response to the CDC recommendations to prioritize people aged 75 and older, those with chronic conditions dropped to phase 2. When the leadership changed again to extend the qualification to 65-year-olds, medically vulnerable residents learned in January that they would have dropped to Phase 4 – to be vaccinated to “essential workers in the front line”, but before “everyone ”.
“When they moved us to group 4, it was very quiet,” Camden said. It was like, ‘We do not want to talk about it. We’re just going to hide you there. ‘That in itself was quite insulting. ”
Mandy Cohen, the state’s chief of public health, said residents under 65 with chronic conditions were moved to the list after health officials received data showing that older residents were more likely to die from COVID-19, although she acknowledged ‘age’ is not a perfect proxy for risk. ‘
Camden decided not to wait for the state to qualify her. Just two days after arriving at her parental home, a friend connected her to a CVS pharmacist in Wilmington, who had extra doses of the vaccine on the verge of spilling. Camden received a Moderna shot in the pharmacist’s dining room on Feb. 21.
“It’s all we have to take it when we can get it,” Camden said. “I do not want to feel guilty or ashamed, because I would get it when I could.”
Jon D’Angelo, a 32-year-old Carteret County resident suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, does not qualify for a vaccine as he does not live in a long-term care facility. He said he jumped the line but did not want to describe where and how he got the vaccine. After a minute-long pause on the question of how he justifies his actions, he replies, “Justice is more important.”
In response to the frustrations of people like Camden and D’Angelo, states are now revising their guidelines again. As of Monday, 28 states, including North Carolina, have at least partially opened access to vaccines across the country for those with high-risk medical conditions, Kates said. Four additional states make the vaccine available to medically vulnerable residents living in certain provinces.
North Carolina announced this week that it starts vaccinating people aged 16 or older with at least one of the 18 dangerous conditions On March 17. Last week, the state expanded its fitness guidelines to include people like D’Angelo who receive home care. D’Angelo is now retrospectively under Phase 1, which was launched in December.
“I’m glad they did, but the fact that it took three months to rectify is outrageous,” D’Angelo said.
On Monday, South Carolina expanded its accessibility for the disabled and people at risk, and Michigan did so for medically vulnerable residents 50 and older. California opens vaccinations for disabled people on March 15 and is at risk.
In Georgia, the governor announced this week that those 16 or older with serious health conditions will be eligible from March 15. Shana Frentz, a 36-year-old with two autoimmune conditions, said she got an appointment at a pharmacy in Georgia that started signing. people on a day before the announcement. Before that, she was researching the possibility of going to a neighboring state. During the months it took before she was eligible in Georgia, she said she and others felt like her ‘kind of thrown aside’.
Maura Wozniak, a 42-year-old resident of Charlotte in the area, has cystic fibrosis and will wait until it is her turn to be vaccinated. Wozniak was furious at North Carolina’s decision to push her back into the queue as it took longer for her children to get back to the classroom. But after learning on social media that she will soon be eligible, she cries for relief.
“They could hear the pleas of high-risk individuals in the state,” Wozniak said. “The fact that they gave us an appointment was promising. Is everything going to be perfect? No. But there is now at least a certain window. ‘
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Associated Press author Anila Yoganathan in 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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Follow Anderson on Twitter https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson.
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Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on national issues.