Cancer survivor faces longer wait for vaccine
GREENWICH — Irene Ricci, a mother of four from Cos Cob, was really, really looking forward to getting a coronavirus vaccination.
Ricci was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2020, and she said her immune system has been weakened after months of treatment. The cancer survivor had been looking to be vaccinated soon, perhaps in early March, according to information she received from the state, as well as a friend in the health-care field that indicated residents with comorbidities would be next in line for vaccines.
When she found out that she was no longer in the next priority group, it was a real blow.
“I was such a trooper — super-cautious,” Ricci said Tuesday.
So when the latest guidelines came Monday out from the office of Gov. Ned Lamont that put residents ages 55 to 64 along with teachers and child-care workers at the the head of the line for vaccinations, she said, “I was in tears yesterday . ... All of a sudden, it was like they pulled the rug out from under me.”
As she struggled with cancer and its aftermath, Ricci had been very stringent about COVID safety, limiting her kids’
social interactions, which is not a pleasant task for a mom committed to her children’s happiness and development. She has also been wearing double masks, and asking her kids to double-mask as well when they’re out of the house.
“And I haven’t seen my parents since November of 2019,” she recalled, though thankfully both of them have been vaccinated.
Intellectually, Ricci, 48, said she understood that difficult decisions had to be made in prioritizing who gets the vaccine first. “It’s an ethics game — who do you value, one life over another? But it seems like you would prioritize someone more at risk.”
Her age group can sign up for vaccines starting on March 22, three weeks later than she was hoping.
So on a personal level, the news stung, and there was some salty language in the Ricci household after the announcement. And while a few weeks difference might not seem like much to most people, she noted, to a cancer survivor, a few weeks of higher risk of exposure was a real issue. “The state is putting us at risk for a longer period of time,” she said.
“I was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering [based in New York], which was offering vaccines, but you have to be a New York resident. So I’m out of luck there as well,” she added.
Her 23-year-old niece who is a teacher in Greenwich is set to be be vaccinated soon, Ricci said, which drove home the paradoxes of the vaccination scheduling. “I don’t understand why my healthy niece will be able to get vaccinated before me,” she said.
Though there appears little she can do now, Ricci said she will be truly happy to roll up her sleeve and take the injection when her turn comes.