Feb. 25, 2021
In early January, while she was helping her grandfather register for a coronavirus vaccine, 21-year-old Sabrina Epstein realized that she was also eligible to be vaccinated in Texas, where her grandfather lived. But in Maryland, where she is a senior studying public health at Johns Hopkins University, she wasn’t eligible. As she started looking more closely at policies, Epstein realized that states across the country had prioritized people with chronic health conditions and disabilities, like hers, either in varied phases or not at all
and according to vastly different definitions and standards.
On Twitter, she began connecting with other people with disabilities, and she discovered that many of them were similarly frustrated, confused or discouraged by their states’ vaccine rollouts. So, Epstein approached her mentor at Johns Hopkins’s Disability Health Research Center, Director Bonnielin Swenor, about creating a resource for people with disabilities to find
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) On February 12th, California Health Director Dr. Mark Ghaly announced that people from the ages of 16 to 64 who are severely disabled or have chronic health conditions will be prioritized for future COVID-19 vaccines.
The eligibility expansion only listed those that the state categorized as highest risk, including individuals with cancer, heart conditions, and severe obesity among others.
But if you keep scrolling down the list it also includes individuals who are likely to develop severe life-threatening illness or death from COVID, and California officials advise healthcare providers to use their best clinical judgement.
The announcement left many with underlying health conditions wondering if they too qualified.
Early commitment to accessibility for disabled Americans has advocates hopeful for Biden s tenure Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
Replay Video UP NEXT
WASHINGTON – The day President Joe Biden was sworn into office, those watching the inauguration saw fire Capt. Andrea Hall, the child of a deaf parent, recite the Pledge of Allegiance – spoken in English and signed.
“Let s just say that s the first time I ve ever cried at the pledge,” said Sara Novic, a deaf writer and college instructor based in Philadelphia. “Beyond access, that was representation, and it meant a lot to see her on the big stage as part of the ceremony.”
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – The day President Joe Biden was sworn into office, those watching the inauguration saw fire Capt. Andrea Hall, the child of a deaf parent, recite the Pledge of Allegiance – spoken in English and signed.
“Let s just say that s the first time I ve ever cried at the pledge,” said Sara Novic, a deaf writer and college instructor based in Philadelphia. “Beyond access, that was representation, and it meant a lot to see her on the big stage as part of the ceremony.”
The next day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci gave a briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the White House’s livestream, there was a remote American Sign Language interpreter, providing interpretation for deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans.
California s age-based vaccine system angers people with disabilities
FacebookTwitterEmail
Charis Hill, disability activist, poses for a portrait in their home in Sacramento, Calif. on Thursday, January 28, 2021. Hill is advocating that COVID-19 vaccines be prioritized for high risk people under 65.Salgu Wissmath / Special to The Chronicle
Even as San Francisco resumed outdoor dining, some gym activities and indoor haircuts on Thursday the last of the Bay Area counties to reopen after the state lockdown concerns lingered over California’s vaccination rollout.
The state’s new vaccination plan will prioritize people by age rather than by risk of infection beginning in mid-February, and people with disabilities and other groups said that is not only unfair but puts their lives at risk.