Improve vaccine equity, sort recipients by risk factors
Azarenka among those eliminated
THE ALBUQUERQUE Journal recently covered the heartbreaking story of a 72-yearold woman with breast cancer who is waiting for a vaccine before she has surgery. To date, she has received neither a vaccine nor information about when it may be available (Speak Up! Jan. 21). This is tragic.
More tragic is the Journal’s reporting that vaccine distribution within each classification will be random. Therefore, a 16-year-old high school girl with a cancerous mole on her shoulder will have the same priority for vaccination as the 72-year-old with pre-existing conditions who is awaiting a vaccine to have breast cancer surgery. At best, random vaccination is lazy, and when considering the number of seniors dying from coronavirus, it could be considered negligent homicide.
This can be fixed with a few keystrokes. The vaccine registry already has the ability to sort registrants by age – that is how the 1B1 category, those over 75, was notified. This categorization by age should be expanded to each subcategory, so that the 1B2 category, those over 16 with a pre-existing condition, should be offered the vaccine by age, with the oldest going first. That way the 72-year-old woman with breast cancer will get her vaccine before me, and I will get my vaccine before the otherwise healthy 16-yearold with a cancerous wart on her shoulder. Those with the most risk and the most need should get the vaccine first. The state can easily make this happen.
Further, the state should use a few more keystrokes to provide daily updates about the number of unvaccinated people remaining in each category. This will allow people waiting for a vaccine to calculate how long it might take. For example, I am waiting to get a vaccine so that I can have a CT scan to see if I have a recurrence of cancer. It will take me at least six weeks to arrange for the doctor appointments, blood tests and insurance approval. If I could calculate my approximate vaccination date, I could better plan to get the medical evaluation I need. Countless other New Mexicans face this situation, and even more want to know if they can plan a trip to see their children or grandchildren this spring or summer. If the state would regularly publish the number of unvaccinated people in each category and subcategory, it would give us hope and help us plan for the future.
We are at war with a virus. This is not the time for lazy excuses about what cannot be done. Now is the time to refine the vaccination registry so that it serves those at most risk and provides information to everyone. BUDDY LEE Albuquerque
Being stuck for two weeks in a Melbourne hotel room with windows that wouldn’t open “really took a toll” on Victoria Azarenka in the leadup to the Australian Open, the Grand Slam tournament’s two-time champion explained after she had trouble breathing during a first-round loss.
When Tennys Sandgren resumed practicing after his can’t-go-anywhere hard quarantine ended, the American said Tuesday, his hands developed blisters from holding a racket. The rest of his body was so sore, Sangren said, he “took two days off because I couldn’t walk.”
Vasek Pospisil’s time in lockdown left him “a little bit resentful” about being “unprepared” and concerned about the lack of a level playing field, the Canadian said in a video interview with The Associated Press. The 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion was critical of Tennis Australia, saying: “They’re not familiar with player needs and how it is to be a professional athlete.”
Like Azarenka, both Sandgren and Pospisil were among the more than 70 players forced to stay in their hotel rooms for every minute of at least 14 days after arriving, at the behest of a government in a country that undertook seri
ous measures to stem coronavirus cases (Australia has reported fewer than 1,000 deaths).
And, like Azarenka, eliminated 7-5, 6-4 by American Jessica Pegula, both Sandgren and Pospisil lost their opening matches.
“I’ve never walked onto a court in a Grand Slam knowing that I’m probably not going to be able to win. I’m physically not in shape enough to play with my opponent,” said Sandgren, who was beaten 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 by No. 21 seed Alex De Minaur on Day 2 a year after holding match points against Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. “I wouldn’t say the whole tournament is a joke, but for some players, it’s not feasible. It’s just not feasible.”
For some, it’s worked out OK so far: 20-year-old American Ann Li, for example, has won five matches in a row since emerging from her hard quarantine, including a 6-2, 6-0 victory over No. 31 seed Zhang Shuai on Tuesday. Heather Watson also reached the second round, despite acknowledging she “didn’t feel as fit as usual, which is no surprise.”
Azarenka and others were deemed at risk for exposure to the illness after another passenger on their chartered flight tested positive.
Players in the “regular” quarantine were allowed to leave their rooms for five hours per day during the first two weeks after getting to Australia.
That time was parceled out this way: 1½ hours at a practice court, 1½ hours at a gym, an hour to eat, an hour for traveling to and from those activities.
Not ideal, maybe, but it did provide chances to get ready to compete.
“I raised this issue with the event. I said: ‘Hey, this is an extraordinary circumstance. So extraordinary changes to rules (and) exceptions can be made … right?’ Because at the end of the day, that’s the essence of sport,” Pospisil said. “That’s the beauty of sport: the equality of opportunity.”
He said he made specific suggestions to organizers that were rejected — offering those in the strictest lockdown additional treatment or massage time; shortening men’s matches to best-of-three-sets in early rounds.
“Could it have been better? Yes. Did they do a good job? Yes,” Pospisil said about holding an international sporting event amid a pandemic. “I think they tried, but it wasn’t perfect.”
Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber, who also lost her opening match, now says she would have thought twice about making the trip at all .
Azarenka was in no mood to ponder those sorts of “what ifs” after being defeated by Pegula.
“I’m not going to sit here and (ask): ‘Should I have come? Should I have not come?’ It’s a waste of time,” Azarenka said. “I came here. Whatever happened, happened. I’m here today. I lost my match. Life goes on. That’s it.”
In second-round action on Wednesday, Serena Williams moved on by grabbing the last seven games to beat 99th-ranked Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0 in a little more than an hour.
Li reached the third round at a Grand Slam for the second time in a row by beating Alize Cornet 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petr Kvitova, was upset by Romania’s Sorana Kistea, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Two-time major winner Garbiñe Muguruza is through to the third round after a 6-3, 6-1 win over Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.