CLARKSDALE, Miss. (AP) – The first obstacle was getting on the bus. Seventy-four-year-old Linda Busby hesitated outside a community center where older people loaded up to get the coronavirus vaccine.
“I was scared, I’m not afraid to say that,” she said Wednesday after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after encouraging a staff member and her brother. “I thought I would not receive him at first. Nobody likes to get shot. ”
Busby’s hesitation is exactly what the Biden administration and its allies in the states are fighting, one person at a time, as the White House intensifies calls for seniors to be inoculated. The vaccination rate for this high-priority group reaches a plateau even as supplies have expanded.
About 76 percent of Americans age 65 and older received at least one photo of COVID-19 vaccines in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the rate of new vaccinations among the group most vulnerable to the adverse effects of the virus has slowed dramatically.
It is a growing source of concern, not only because of the potential for preventable deaths and serious illness among the elderly in the coming months, but also for what it could predict for America’s larger population.
“I want to make a direct appeal to the elderly and to all who care about them,” President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, citing “incredible progress,” but saying it is still not enough.
“It’s simple: seniors, it’s time to get vaccinated now. Get vaccinated now. “
According to government estimates, about 12.9 million American seniors have not yet received the first blow. Even though they were the first priority age group for vaccines, more than 23% of those aged 75 and over had not yet been vaccinated.
Supply constraints initially slowed the pace of vaccinations for seniors, but not by a few months for those in high-priority age groups. Instead, officials say, the slowdown is caused by a combination of problems, from people who have difficulty finding and accessing inoculation sites. when hesitating the vaccine.
Closing the gap will require consideration of all barriers for the elderly, whether technological, transportation or personal hesitation, said Sandy Markwood, CEO of the National Association of Regional Agencies for Aging, who acknowledged that vaccination rates ” for older adults they paid somewhat. ”
It is a potential harbinger of the challenges that must come with other demographic groups. All American adults will become eligible for vaccination in the next two weeks, although the process of taking enough photos to start returning to “normal” will take months longer. Many states, even if they open the doors of eligibility, still keep priority vaccination systems or dedicated distribution channels to keep the elderly who want the vaccine in front of the line.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, predicted that between 75% and 85% of the population should be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” and end the US outbreak.
This is one reason why the White House and the states have moved to intensify care programs for the elderly and public education campaigns.
Markwood credited the administration’s $ 1.9 trillion rescue plan to provide the funding needed “to go there and make it more intensive, sometimes an individual action” with seniors, saying, “It’s the last pity, the last group that needs extra support, will need that extra information and time. “
Even more help is on the way.
Starting next week, the administration is launching a $ 100 million effort to fund community organizations that provide “high-intensity” support to at-risk seniors and people with disabilities through the Department of Health and Human Services. This includes assistance with booking appointments, travel to vaccination sites and other assistance through the vaccination process.
Similar programs are already underway at the state level.
In Clarksdale, Mississippi, the state on Wednesday hosted its first mobile vaccinations for older adults at home. There, a bus took Busby in front of a community and care center for the elderly located next to the door of a low-income housing complex for the elderly.
As Busby resisted, a staff member encouraged her to join the group waiting to board. She later said that a major motivating factor in getting the shot was the support of her brother, who called her to encourage her to get vaccinated.
“I’ll call him as soon as I get home and let him know I did,” she said as she returned to the bus to return to the community center.
Older people are actually less hesitant than many. According to an AP-NORC survey in late March, 11% of Americans aged 65 and over say they will probably not be vaccinated. This compares with 25% of all adults.
The White House has repeatedly pointed to family members and community leaders as the best validators to overcome hesitation. It is also working to create more vaccination sites closer to home, recognizing that access concerns extend to demographic groups. On Wednesday, the White House announced that all more than 1,400 federally qualified community health centers will be able to begin administering vaccines. It also aims to expand mobile vaccination clinics.
A disproportionate number of unvaccinated seniors come from black or Latin American communities or people without easy access to health care, said Kathleen Cameron, senior director of the National Aging Council’s Center for Healthy Aging, reflecting disparities in the wider population. And about 6% of the elderly go home.
“These are the hardest to reach people and these are the ones we have to work hard to reach, either to bring them to the vaccination centers or to bring them the vaccines,” she said.
Aurelia Jones-Taylor, CEO at Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center, Inc. from Clarksdale, said one of the main aids – but sometimes barriers – to vaccinating older adults is family members. Some encourage their relatives by helping them with walks to clinics and making sure they receive photos.
But in many cases, younger family members are misinformed about the vaccine and discourage older relatives from receiving it.. In addition, older adults may be more difficult to access because they are not good at social media and live alone.
“They’re stuck in the house and they’re scared,” Jones-Taylor said. “We have to overcome fear.”
According to the CDC, older people, by age, are 1,300 to 8,700 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than children ages 5-17 and account for more than 80 percent of the 559,000 deaths in the United States. because of the virus.
A major help in Mississippi – especially among older adults – is to encourage pastors and church communities, Jones-Taylor said.
“It’s paramount,” she said. “This is the one who listens.”
Julia Ford, 71, spends most of her time at Rev. SLA Jones Activity Center. She said her faith was a major motivator for her vaccination.
“I wasn’t sure what I would do -” Will I get it or not? “I talked to the Lord to understand this,” said Ford, whose brother died of the virus. “I thought of the verse, ‘Everything that was done was done by him.’ Nothing was done that was not done by him. He made the virus and made the antidote. ”
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Miller reported from Washington.