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White House Task Force on Winter Weather and Vaccinations
The White House says the winter weather hitting parts of the country has delayed vaccinations. This comes as the Biden administration acknowledges that if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is approved, it will start slowly. (Feb. 17)
AP
Fran Goldman inspired the country this week after walking 6 miles back and forth through the snow in Seattle to get her first COVID-19 vaccine shot. What’s more, she did it at 90 years old.
“Her secret is a combination of good genes and a commitment to daily exercise,” her daughter, Ruth Goldman, told USA today. “She usually walks about 3 miles a day.”
Fran focuses on eating healthy and staying mentally and physically fit, and she has ‘always been interested in learning new things’, her daughter said. She is currently enrolled in a Zoom class on Chinese history and prior to the coronavirus pandemic, she personally attended a variety of courses.
“She’s healthier than me and my three siblings together!” says Ruth, 55, the youngest of Fran’s children living in Buffalo, New York.
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Ruth said her mother was inundated this week with messages and calls from Americans nationwide inspired by her story of determination. Ruth answered questions from the USA TODAY on behalf of her mother.
She told her mother tried for about a month to get a vaccine appointment.
Fran checked online for openings several times a day. She tried different phone numbers. She even walked into a pharmacy to see if they had a waiting list.
Last Friday, she finally clicked on the Seattle Children’s Hospital website and was able to schedule an appointment for Sunday morning, Ruth said.
“It was a lot of work. However, she was happy because she was comfortable navigating websites,” Ruth said. “Many other people her age and younger are not technically proficient or do not have internet or a device to use the site.”
Seattle received about one foot of snow on Friday and Saturday – one of its snowy weekends recorded – to make roads icy and treacherous. As the weather got worse, Fran kept to the hospital website to see if they would reschedule the appointments; many other vaccination sites were closed due to the storm.
“Because it took her so long to plan the vaccine, she decided she could not miss the appointment for bad weather,” Ruth said. “She knew she could not drive and cars could not make the incredibly steep ramp, and she began to think about walking.”
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Fran did a practice walk on Saturday to see how long it would take her on foot and completed part of the trip, Ruth said. Then she got up early Sunday, bundled up in layers, grabbed her walking sticks and left.
“It took her about an hour per direction. There was a good track on the trail and she just kept going carefully,” Ruth said.
Fran arrived at her appointment about five minutes late, received her shot and waited the 15 minute observation before returning.
For Fran, the vaccine represents hope.
“She wants to be able to embrace her great-grandchildren and have a little shine of a normal life,” Ruth said. “She knows it will not be the same as pre-pandemic and plans to continue wearing a mask and following safety guidelines, but the risk of getting severe COVID will be much lower.”
More than 12% of people in the U.S. received at least one vaccine shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and about 4.7% of people received both doses. At the current vaccination rate, trees will lose their leaves this fall by the time most American adults can be vaccinated, and vaccine delivery should double to reach most this summer, according to a U.S. panel of experts.
Follow the latest reporter Grace Hauck on Twitter @grace_hauck.