Thousands of vaccinations for the elderly delayed due to lack of doses, accidents

“Based on those responses, the next thing was whether there was an appointment available,” he said. “She said there were no appointments available within the time frame in which the appointments were given.”

He called the following week. Same thing. Three hours of waiting, same questions and still no appointment.

“I asked to speak to the supervisor,” Batra said. “I said to Kaiser’s supervisor, ‘I’m not mad at you. I’m a little frustrated with the system. ‘ If you can try to streamline the system, if there isn’t a date, there should be a faster way to know there is no date. You should have a system that doesn’t take hours to wait on the phone. “

Based on a tip from a friend, he downloaded the hospital app. He checked his primary hospital for an appointment hour; no chance. After two days he tried again, opting for another establishment further away. “It gave me three dates,” he said.

Batra got a date for February 4, the day before his 75th birthday, at Kaiser’s Santa Clara facility in Homestead.

A few days later, he received an email informing him that the appointment had been canceled without any information on how to reschedule it.

“It was a long email,” he said. “Because of the vaccine shortage, we’re currently prioritizing a different group of people, healthcare workers, 75 and over,” and all that. It didn’t give me any information on how I would get a new date.

Batra understands the vaccine is rare and he believes healthcare workers and people older than him should be a priority. Having said that, he believes the system is broken.

“I want them to prioritize healthcare workers,” he said. “I am able to observe the forties. I can do everything from home. But not everyone is as lucky and blessed as I am.”

Batra isn’t alone: ​​the process of getting the vaccine, for thousands of older people in the Bay Area, has been hampered by delays, bureaucracy, inconsistencies and perhaps most overwhelmingly, a shortage of vaccines.

Several seniors who spoke to SFGATE experienced countless obstacles in their efforts to get the vaccine, spending hours maneuvering dysfunctional websites and confusing customer service reps – symptoms of a failed and frustrating deployment .

“It’s the system that isn’t smooth and productive, wastes a lot of time and causes a lot of frustration,” Batra said. “We have to smooth out the systems.”

“ In the grip of dishonesty ”

When Newsom announced the switch to age-based priority for the COVID-19 vaccine last month, it should have been a moment of relief for the elderly.

Public health officials hailed the move, calling it the best decision for the benefit of the state’s people, given the limited number of vaccines available.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health, said the move could lower the number of hospitalizations and benefit Californians in general.

But the sudden change from the initial California deployment has turned out to be chaotic for patients and doctors alike.

James Moldovan, a 70-year-old San Francisco resident and cancer survivor, said confusion arose over the advisory as some providers offered the vaccine to people 65 and older, while others did not. intended only for people aged 75 and over.

Moldovan health care provider Sutter Health has made it clear that people aged 75 or over or working in community health care have priority, but was unable to get an estimated date of which he could get vaccinated. (A hospital representative declined to comment further on SFGATE.)

“I emailed my doctor and he basically said you’re a bit lonely,” said Moldovan, who has been confined to his home without a car throughout the pandemic. “That was the message of that thing. And it’s not a joyous message that you are alone.”

Meanwhile, Moldovan has a 72-year-old friend who was vaccinated through his provider and another acquaintance, a donor in a hospital, is said to have received special treatment.

“The deployment was marked by dishonesty,” he said. “The role of the city is to initiate and ensure good public policy. The city could coordinate with the Kaisers and Sutters… they are not completely honest with the people.” said Moldavian.

‘We understand the frustration’

Even for those who can get appointments, the process has been fraught with challenges.

In Santa Clara County, nearly 5,000 seniors – including Batra – who were due to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser hospitals have had their appointments canceled.

The Los Angeles Times first reported on Tuesday that Kaiser had not obtained the number of vaccines he had previously planned, a number estimated by previous shipments and government guidelines.

“We understand the frustration this is causing and we continue to do all we can to increase vaccine supply, in partnership with county, state and federal governments,” a spokesperson for Kaiser said. “They plan to schedule everyone 75 or older, but said younger seniors will have to wait until there is a ‘significant increase in vaccine supply.’

Up north, in Sonoma County, another crisis unfolded the same day. A link leak to the county’s website has led thousands of people aged 65 to 74 to sign up for a vaccine before they turn 75 and over. After it went viral on social media, thousands of dates were canceled and the county apologized.

“Mistakes are made, and I’m going to assume more mistakes will be made because we try so hard to get it right,” Chris Coursey of the Sonoma County Oversight Council said, per KTVU.

Sonoma County spokesman Matt Brown said the site has since been changed to make it clear that only people over 75 can be vaccinated.

‘I solved my problems’

Some hospitals are strategizing to avoid canceling appointments, and UCSF said it had not canceled any yet.

“We only plan a few days at a time to avoid this type of scenario,” UCSF spokeswoman Elizabeth Fernandez wrote in an email to SFGATE.

As of Sunday, UCSF had administered 40,268 vaccines, according to Fernandez.

“Our vaccinations have gone to the employees and trainees most at risk of exposure, as well as patients,” Fernandez said. “We have also vaccinated non-UCSF health workers in partnership with the city and county of San Francisco.”

And despite a myriad of obstacles, older people manage to get hold of vaccines, often by trying multiple routes and suddenly discovering which one works.

Jeff Neustadt, a 76-year-old San Franciscan, is on Medicare with a supplement and could not get information on how to access the vaccine from his primary care physician.

After spending at least 10 hours making calls and checking websites, he signed up through Sutter and got a date in San Mateo – after hearing advice they were handing out vaccines to non -members.

“I was between a rock and a hard place,” he says. “It took a lot of hours, a lot of phone calls.”

That said, Neustadt admitted he was lucky, in retrospect.

“It would be difficult for someone who was not mobile because my meeting was in San Mateo.”

And in Sonoma County, where the planning website fiasco took place, Richard Hirsch, 82, successfully navigated it all. “I solved my problems,” he says.

Despite some initial confusion as to when he would be vaccinated, he was able to find several local appointments. He is expected to receive his first hit at the end of this week.

“I’m in good shape,” he said.