New vaccine plan puts my family at risk
On Feb. 22, Gov. Ned Lamont announced new state guidelines for COVID-19 vaccinations. Starting March 1, Connecticut residents over 55 and teachers will be eligible to get the vaccine. Following this group, his plan allows for new age groups — 45 and over, 35 and over, and then 16 to 34 — to register for the vaccine every three weeks. This arbitrary system leaves many of the state’s most vulnerable residents without access to the vaccine for critical weeks.
Families like mine are among those affected by this decision. My household includes my mother, a 62-year-old woman with Type 2 diabetes who works at a company that packages meals for the elderly. My brother is a 23-year-old retail worker at Walgreens Pharmacy. I am a 26-year-old educator at a nonprofit health care provider who is living with Type 1 diabetes. During the past year, our biggest concern about this pandemic was for any of us to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. We knew that because of the status of my brother and mother as frontline workers they would be the most likely to be exposed while they fulfilled their work duties away from home.
Along with that, my mother and I are both at risk of developing complications if an infection were to happen. The American Diabetes Association and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention say that folks with such pre-existing conditions as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are more likely to have complications from COVID-19.
With the news of vaccines, many of us who were scared for our survival became hopeful. For months, members of the disabled community watched, horrified, at the government’s failure to contain the spread of COVID-19. We saw many of our friends and loved ones become ill and die, and we wondered if our strict precautions wouldn’t be enough to save our lives.
Diabetes and other risky health conditions affect communities differently. Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities are at a statistically higher risk of living with one or more pre-existing conditions. They are also more likely to have less access to quality health care and regular check-ups. In Connecticut, undocumented immigrants are the largest group of people who lack medical insurance, and often they must rely on emergency rooms to see doctors. Many undocumented immigrants are at risk of exposure because they work in restaurants, agriculture and other frontline jobs that can’t be done from home.
Gov. Lamont’s guidelines ignore the realities of working-class minorities in the state by making younger but more vulnerable people wait for vaccines. This is a slap on the face of these communities.
Gov. Lamont said: “The last thing we want to do is complicate the process … and cause delays that slow things down and exacerbate issues regarding equitable access.” Yet his plan does exactly that. Those who are at most risk should be prioritized, not subjected to arbitrary guidelines. Implying that it is too difficult to figure out a different, more equitable way to protect vulnerable residents of Connecticut is lazy and morally corrupt.
Families like mine are exhausted by wondering if we will be exposed when one of us goes to work. Families like mine are exhausted by planning what we will do if the virus reaches our household. Families like mine are exhausted.
Gov. Lamont and his administration must modify the guidelines to protect Connecticut’s most threatened residents.
Government officials nationwide have failed the 500,000 Americans who have lost their lives from COVID-19 and the many others who are living with the longterm effects of COVID-19.
Gov. Lamont, do better.