Caregivers of frail Tennessee kids get vaccine priority

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Seven-year-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 more than 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, said from Memphis.

Carpenter’s medical condition makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, putting him in a population that states are wrestling with how to prioritize as vaccine supplies fall short of demand. Tennessee last month joined a handful of states in moving the families of medically frail children like Carpenter up the vaccine priority list. State officials bumped them above critical infrastructure workers, grocery store employees and inmates, landing in the phase that follows teachers and child care staff.

As the disease’s U.S. death toll climbs to nearly half a million people, 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.

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.

They might have to wait more than a month and a half to be eligible, under state Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey’s recent conservative timeline. But the national vaccine landscape is constantly shifting, with President Joe Biden saying there will be enough doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July.

Barbara Saunders, a physician who heads the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s child development division, said medically frail children have a tough enough time staying healthy without the threat of a pandemic. She said anything to keep them as healthy as possible, including vaccinating the people around them, is crucial.

“We know that children with medical complexity and who are medically fragile are at much higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than their typically developing peers,” Saunders said. “They’re also at a higher risk of having severe illness and requiring hospitalization compared to other children.”

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; however, other states are addressing those caregivers more quickly, with some getting shots already.