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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) – Carpenter Adoo, 7, quickly earned the nickname “Tiny but Mighty”.
He had his first surgery at one week old and spent four months in the neonatal intensive care unit. He has performed more than a dozen procedures to keep excess fluid from safely draining from his brain, regularly greeting nurses with hugs and handshakes.
“He handles all of this with a grace that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to handle it,” said Carpenter’s mother Leah Williamson of Memphis.
Carpenter’s medical condition makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, placing him in a population that wonders how to prioritize as vaccine stocks do not meet demand. Last month, Tennessee joined a handful of states in pushing families of medically fragile children like Carpenter back on the priority vaccine list. State officials bumped into them above critical infrastructure workers, grocery store workers and inmates, arriving in the phase after teachers and child care staff.
Williamson was encouraged but still had no answers on the date of his turn.
As the death toll from the disease in the United States climbs to nearly half a million people, the threat to those with chronic diseases remains high, especially for those under the age of 16 who are not yet approved for vaccines. Williamson hopes this makes the state of Tennessee’s desire to give him a vaccine urgent.
She just knows that day can’t come soon enough.
Before the pandemic, the flu season terrified her. If Carpenter, who has hydrocephalus and chronic lung disease, got COVID-19, the damage could be severe.
The next immunization priority group in Tennessee includes people who live with children under the age of 16 or who care for children under the age of 16 who have a number of medical weaknesses, ranging from those who receive a chemotherapy to children who use a wheelchair because of high-risk conditions.
They may have to wait more than a month and a half to be eligible, according to the recent Conservative timeline from Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey. But the national vaccine landscape is constantly changing, with President Joe Biden saying there will be enough doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July.
Barbara Saunders, a doctor who heads the child development division at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said medically fragile children have enough difficulty staying healthy without the threat of a pandemic. She said anything to keep them as healthy as possible, including vaccinating the people around them, is crucial.
“We know that children with medical complexity and who are medically fragile are at much higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than their typically developing peers,” Saunders said. “They are also at a higher risk of having serious illness and requiring hospitalization compared to other children.”
Other states expand eligibility for caregivers of medically fragile children include California, Oregon, Illinois, South Carolina and New Hampshire. Few make it as straightforward as Tennessee, which prioritizes anyone in the house; however, other states are reaching out to these caregivers more quickly, some already being vaccinated.
Some states have categorized these family members as home care providers or caregivers, making them eligible. Many states do not address them.
Late last month Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called the vaccine prioritization “heartbreaking” when asked why parents of immunocompromised children had not yet been uploaded there. -low.
“It’s not ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” the Republican said at a press conference. “It’s, ‘Yes, if we do you, someone else is going to be pushed back or another group is going to be pushed back.’ ‘
Although research into whether the vaccine can stop someone from spreading the virus is still not comprehensive, early indications are positive. AstraZeneca, whose COVID-19 vaccine is not yet available in the United States, has found evidence that its vaccines can reduce transmission of the virus. A recent study in Israel relayed the first similar findings about Pfizer’s vaccine.
From Williamson’s perspective, the vaccine would add to what she already does. She limits travel outside and works from home for a group that supports families of children with special health care needs, chronic illness or disabilities. He is relieved before entering the house, without exception. She leaves packages in the yard for a day or two and wipes the groceries.
“It’s like decontamination when I come home, spray myself with hand sanitizer -” Nobody touches mom! “- because you just don’t know,” Williamson said. “We still have to do things, like go to follow-ups and go to doctor’s appointments.”
At one point, after a visit to the doctor’s office, she was told that someone there had tested positive. She wore masks around the children for 10 days, trying to stay in a room and limit their interactions.
Sending one of her four children – two teenagers, one of whom has a profound hearing loss and speaks sign language, and Carpenter’s twin sister – to school in person is out of the question due to what ‘they might relate.
Williamson said she was aware of the role race played in the pandemic, with fewer people of color vaccinated. But she says her son’s care is too important to waver.
“We’re a black family and so the question I’m asked, ‘Are you really going to get the vaccine?” “Yes, I am really going to get the vaccine,” Williamson said. “It’s just that trusting medicine thing.”
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