Caregivers of frail kids get shot priority
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Sevenyear-old Carpenter Adoo has earned the nickname “Tiny but Mighty” in short order.
He underwent his first surgery at a week old and spent four months in the neonatal intensive care unit. He’s powered through over a dozen procedures to keep the excess fluid draining from his brain safely, routinely greeting nurses with hugs and handshakes.
“He handles it all with a grace that I don’t know that I would ever be able to handle it,” Carpenter’s mother, Leah Williamson.
Carpenter’s medical condition makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, putting him in a population that states are wrestling with how toprioritize as vaccine supplies fall short of demand. Tennessee recently joined a handful of states in moving the families of medically frail children like Carpenter up the vaccine prior- ity list. State officials bumped them above critical infrastructure workers, grocery store employees and inmates, land- ing in the phase that follows teachers and child care staff.
Williamson was encouraged but still hasn’t gotten answers about when she’ll get her turn.
With U.S. death toll at more than half a million, the threat to those with chronic health conditions remains high, especially for those younger than 16 who aren’t approved for the shots yet. Williamson hopes that lends urgency to the state of Tennessee’s willingness to give her a vaccine.
She just knows that day can’t come soon enough.
Before the pandemic, flu season terrified her. If Carpenter, who has hydrocephalus and chronic lung disease, were to catch COVID-19, the damage could be severe.
The upcoming vaccine priority group in Tennessee includes people who live with or care for children younger than 16 who have any number of medical frailties, ranging from those receiving chemotherapy to children who use a wheelchair because of high-risk conditions.
Other states extending eligibility to caregivers of medically frail children include California, Oregon, Illinois, South Carolina and New Hampshire. Few make it as explicit as Tennessee, which prioritizes anyone in the household.
In January, Gov. Mike DeWine called Ohio’s vaccine prioritization “gut-wrenching” when asked why parents of immunocompromised children had not yet been bumped up in line there.
“It’s not ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” he said at a news conference. “It’s, ‘Yes, if we do you, somebody else is going to get shoved back or another group is going to get shoved back.’”