San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Online sign-ups for vaccine a struggle for some seniors
DENVER — Howard Jones, who’s 83, was on the phone for three to four hours every day trying to sign up for a coronavirus vaccine.
Jones, who lives alone in Colorado Springs, Colo., doesn’t have the internet, and that’s made it much more difficult for him to make an appointment. It took him about a week. He said the confusion has added to his anxiety about catching what could be a life-threatening disease at his age.
“It has been hell,” Jones said. “I’m 83, and to not have the use of a computer is just terrible.”
As states across the U.S. roll out the COVID-19 vaccine to people 65 and older, senior citizens are scrambling to figure out how to sign up to get their shots. Many states and counties ask people to make appointments online, but glitchy websites, overwhelmed phone lines and a patchwork of fast-changing rules are bedeviling older people. Many of them are often less tech-savvy, may live far from vaccination sites and are more likely to not have internet access, especially people of color and those who are poor.
Nearly 9.5 million seniors, or 16.5 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older, lack internet access, Census Bureau data shows. Access is worse for seniors of color: More than 25 percent of Black people, about 21 percent of Hispanic people and over 28 percent of Native Americans 65 and older have no way to get online. That’s compared with 15.5 percent of white seniors.
Some health officials
have been trying to find other solutions to ease the confusion and help senior citizens sign up, just as the Trump administration urged states last week to make the nation’s 57.6 million seniors eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Some seniors may be waiting to hear from their doctor. But there are limits to using health care systems, pharmacies or primary care providers to reach underserved people who don’t have the internet, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.
She said the two coronavirus vaccines available in the U.S. and their low-temperature requirements “don’t lend themselves to being sent out to rural areas.”
In McComb, Miss., where 77.5 percent of residents are Black and almost half the population lives below the poverty line, 71year-old Mary Christian made an appointment online with her son’s help. But the only available sites are at least an hour away from where she lives.
“I’m 71 years old, and my kids are not going to be happy
for me driving 1 to 200 miles away to get a vaccine,” said Christian, who has diabetes.
When calling for an appointment is an option, finding a number is often only possible online.
That was the problem for Jones, the 83-year-old in Colorado. A retired service member, he considered reaching out to Veterans Affairs but couldn’t find a phone number.
He asked for help from a friend, who gave him several numbers. One led to Angela Cortez, head of communications for AARP in Colorado.
AARP has been flooded with calls from seniors who don’t have the internet and need help navigating the websites of health departments, care providers and vaccine sign-up forms, Cortez said.
“It’s not like you can show up somewhere and get vaccinated,” Cortez said. “And if you don’t have access to a computer, you’re at a disadvantage.”
A friend was finally able to get Jones an appointment. But he’s frustrated that he had “to go through side channels” instead of doing it himself.