‘Cruel’ Digital Race For Vaccines Leaves Many Seniors Behind
Will Stone, Kaiser Health News and National Public Radio • February 16, 2021
With millions of older Americans eligible for covid-19 vaccines and limited supplies, many continue to describe a frantic and frustrating search to secure a shot, beset by uncertainty and difficulty.
The efforts to vaccinate people 65 and older have strained under the enormous demand that has overwhelmed cumbersome, inconsistent scheduling systems.
The struggle represents a shift from the first wave of vaccinations — health care workers in health care settings — which went comparatively smoothly. Now, in most places, elderly people are pitted against one another, competing on an unstable technological playing field for limited shots.
“You can’t have the vaccine distribution be a race between elderly people typing and younger people typing,” said Jeremy Novich, a clinical psychologist in New York City who has begun a group to help people navigate the technology to get appointments. “That’s not a race. That’s just cruel.”
While the demand is an encouraging sign of public trust in the vaccines, the challenges facing seniors also speak to the country’s fragmented approach, which has left many confused and enlisting family members to hunt down appointments.
“It’s just maddening,” said Bill Walsh, with AARP. “It should be a smooth pathway from signing up to getting the vaccine, and that’s just not what we’re seeing so far.”
Glitchy websites, jammed phone lines and long lines outside clinics have become commonplace as states expand who’s eligible — sometimes triggering a mad dash for shots that can sound more like trying to score a ticket for a music festival than obtaining a lifesaving vaccine.
After being inundated, some public health departments are trying to hire more staff members to handle their vaccination hotlines and specifically target seniors who may not be able to navigate a complicated online sign-up process.
“Just posting a website and urging people to go there is not a recipe for success,” said Walsh.
‘Terribly Competitive’
Finding out how to get a vaccine appointment was straightforward for Gerald Kahn, 76, who lives in Madison, Connecticut.
Kahn got an email notice from the state’s vaccine registration system telling him to make an appointment, but he ran into problems at the very end of the sign-up process.
“As much as I would pound my finger on the face of my iPad, it didn’t do me any good,” he said.
So Kahn did what many have and called a younger family member, who was able to help him finish signing up.
“I think there are a lot of people my age, maybe the preponderance, who can only go so far into the internet, and then we’re not only stymied but also frustrated,” he said.
When Helen Francke, 92, logged on for a vaccine at the designated time, she discovered the spots available in Washington, D.C., filled up almost instantaneously.
“It was evident that I was much too slow,” she said. “It’s terribly competitive and clearly favors those with advanced computer skills.”
Miguel Lerma, who lives in Phoenix, said his 69-year-old mother has been unsuccessful in finding a shot.
“She’s not an English speaker and doesn’t know technology well, and that’s how everything is being done,” said Lerma, 31.
Lerma said it’s especially painful to watch his mother struggle to get the vaccine — because he lost his father to covid last year.
“She’s mourning not only for my dad, but she’s also suffering as an adult now because she depended on him for certain tasks,” Lerma said. “He would’ve handled all this.”
‘Desperate’ Seniors Look for Help
Philip Bretsky, a primary care doctor in Southern California, said his older patients would typically call him or visit a pharmacy for vaccines like the annual flu shot, rather than rely on novel online scheduling systems.
“That’s not how 85-year-olds have interacted with the health care system, so it’s a complete disconnect,” he said. “These folks are basically just investing a lot of time and not getting anything out of it.”
“Patients in this age group want to know that they’re at least being heard or somebody is thinking about the challenges they have,” he said.
There are some local efforts to make that happen.
Caroline County
Call Center: 410-479-5880
For questions and resources. Vaccination clinics are full, so this call center cannot register you for vaccination appointments at this time.
Cecil County
Call: 410-996-1005
For assistance with prescreening for vaccination eligibility.
Dorchester County
Phone: 410-228-3223
Kent County
410-778-1350
Queen Anne’s County
Call Center: 443-262-9909
For assistance in getting on the vaccine waitlist.
Somerset County
443-523-1920
Talbot County
Covid-19 Vaccination Helpline: 410-819-5641
To help individuals sign up for a vaccine appointment if they are unable to register themselves through the online vaccine appointment system.
Wicomico County
Call Center: 410-912-6889
Ask to be put on the vaccination call list.
Worcester County
For help call: 667-253-2140
If you need help scheduling a vaccination appointment. There is a new system that simplifies the registration process and prioritizes the elderly.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
This story is part of a partnership that includes NPR and KHN.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
More than 30,000 of our neighbors in Maryland’s first congressional district will lose their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid because of provisions in the GOP’s heartless tax cut and spending bill passed last week.
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
