Seniors anxious for vaccine clarity
Nova Martínez sits in the living room of her parents’ Taos home with her 90-year-old, Korean War veteran father and 89-year-old mother, anxiously awaiting the phone call that will tell them when the elderly couple will be getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Martínez registered her parents weeks ago and has yet to hear back, despite her parents becoming eligible for the vaccine two weeks ago when the state entered Phase 1B of the vaccination rollout.
“We are very frustrated,” said Martínez, who has called the Department of Health and searched online for answers about vaccine notifications.
Last week, the Governor’s office announced that every staff member and resident at New Mexico’s 309 nursing homes had received (or been offered) the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine. In total, the Department of Health estimates that equals roughly 12,000 workers and residents at the various long-term care facilities.
While the number is impressive, it doesn’t address people like Nova Martínez’s parents, who are elderly and require care, but are not residents of a care facility.
It appears, the Martínez story is not unique. Jim Schultz, co-founder of the Taos Elders and Neighbors Together (TENT), has run into similar issues.
“I only know of one of our members, out of 50, who has [gotten the vaccine],” said Schultz.
Schultz and the team at TENT work closely with local seniors, pairing them with a volunteer network (in non-COVID times) to perform any number of tasks ranging from driving them to doctor’s appointments to changing light bulbs.
Since the pandemic began, Schultz has found TENT’s focus shifting towards helping community seniors find resources for COVID testing and vaccinations. That meant helping the elderly
– a traditionally technologicallyadverse demographic – navigate a world that was suddenly very technology dependent.
“Getting everyone registered by phone was pretty straight forward,” Schultz said. “But now we haven’t heard anything back. It makes our members anxious.”
The problem is compounded by the fact that many of the TENT members don’t have cell phones or the internet. “For many, we have to actually go to their homes to speak with them. It makes it difficult to get them information.”
Even so, Schultz says TENT has registered all of their seniors and is keeping them updated regularly. But the frustration is starting to show.
“We don’t mind waiting, we just need updates,” he said.
The town of Taos is doing what it can to help coordinate the vaccination process, but the state has the final say in the rollout efforts.
“The state has stepped in and is now coordinating most aspects of vaccination so I can’t really speak for them as to their plans going forward,” said town Manager Rick Bellis. “We just try to assist where we are needed at this point.”
The New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department (ALTSD) has announced that it is expanding its registration and vaccination efforts for seniors throughout the state.
“My department is working hard to get vaccine clinics set up for seniors who are 75-plus across the state, assist in vaccine-related education, and of course, encourage New Mexicans, especially seniors, to register on vaccinenm. org,” said ALTSD Cabinet Secretary Katrina Hotrum-Lopez.
Taos already has vaccination clinics set up at Taos Middle School and Holy Cross Medical Center. According to Bellis, clinics and registration are not the problem in Taos County.
“Since the state is doing all nursing homes, the CDC is about to engage local pharmacies, and [Holy Cross Medical Center] is also already involved in vaccinating, as are most health clinics,” Bellis said. “The pod at the Taos Middle School clinic is doing 300-600 people per day. We don’t see that there is a need for another clinic site by the town, and neither does the medical task force or the state. The restriction to doing more shots is the limited supply of vaccine, not access to locations.”
Despite concerns from local residents, the state Department of Health Secretary-Designate, Dr. Tracie Collins, expressed both her awareness of an ever-changing situation and her confidence in the state’s rollout plans.
“The Biden administration is proposing changes to America’s vaccine distribution plan,” she said. “If those plans become law, New Mexico will adjust as appropriate. In the meantime, however, New Mexico’s phased vaccine distribution plan is authoritative.”
New Mexico is doing well by national standards, ranking eighth in the country in vaccine rollout efficiency. And COVID numbers continue to decline statewide. But the positive numbers do little to alleviate the Martínez family’s anxiety or give clarity to TENT’s 49 remaining unvaccinated members.
“A lot of these people can barely function on the phone. We’ve registered their phone number as TENT’s main number so that we can be notified that they are getting a vaccine. Then we can pick them up and make sure they get it,” Schultz said. “But so far there haven’t really been any calls. All we really want now are weekly updates to keep us posted and let us know we aren’t forgotten.”