Young Californians Receive COVID-19 Vaccine, 90-Year-Olds Wait

At 91, Bob Stannard still lives alone on his Gilroy ranch and religiously reads the newspaper from his sofa bed every morning, but his body isn’t functioning like it used to be.

Stannard has stage 4 prostate cancer. He also has diabetes, uses a catheter, and uses a walker to walk short distances around the house. Between several traumatic falls over the past two years and his myriad of health problems, Stannard – a member of Kaiser Permanente for the past five decades – goes to the hospital and its doctors more than anyone.

Still, as thousands of people across the state who are younger than Stannard managed to get a COVID-19 vaccination appointment last week, Stannard’s family are in the process of pulling out.

“Surprisingly, Kaiser has all of this information and we still can’t get an answer from anyone,” Stannard’s son-in-law Dan Morgan said. “The selection process reminds me of a game of bingo. I just don’t understand how they found this.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that the state would allow immunizations for people 65 and older, Kaiser followed suit. But opening the floodgates of healthcare workers to hundreds of thousands of others has been chaotic. Telephone lines are blocked and online appointment systems are quickly overloaded with appointment requests.

On Tuesday – just a week after appointments for those 65 and over opened – Kaiser announced that he is now limiting vaccinations to people 75 and over. Today, however, even those who qualify under the new settings can no longer call, email, or use the health care provider’s online system to schedule an appointment. Kaiser basically told them not to call us, we’ll call you.

Kaiser is not alone. County health departments and healthcare providers across the state all say the long-awaited vaccine rollout has been hampered by a low and inconsistent dose supply.

As a result, despite caring for 1.5 million members aged 65 and over, Kaiser said last week that he had only received 20,000 doses for that age group.

One of the lucky ones was Dorothy Wickenhiser, 71, from Livermore.

She waited eight hours on Kaiser’s phone line last week before finally hearing the voice of a receptionist on the other end – at 2 a.m.

After living in fear since last March that she and her husband – who died this summer of a lung disease – could contract the virus, Wickenhiser said she jumped at the chance to get the shot as soon as she got it. had learned that she was eligible.

Wickenhiser said she was unaware of the changes Kaiser had made since and felt “extremely lucky” to have a date scheduled in a week’s time.

“They said they were worried that people might not want to be vaccinated, but I can tell you that I don’t know someone in my age range who doesn’t bite at all,” she says. “… I just believe with my fingers crossed now that they’re not going to call and cancel.”

In a statement to that news agency, Kaiser said he “follows state guidelines and prioritizes patients who are at increased risk of mortality or other serious illnesses, as well as those who reside. in vulnerable communities ”.

But family members of some of California’s oldest residents who are most vulnerable to succumbing to COVID-19 say they don’t see this policy at work.

Carol, the 90-year-old mother of Mark Rakich, had a bad fall at her Los Gatos home two weeks ago and broke her shoulder. Doctors recommended that she spend her 6 to 8 weeks of recovery in a qualified nursing home, but due to COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes across the country, Mark Rakich and his family decided to bring her back. at home and watch her themselves. .

Carol Rakich’s family are now looking to bring in a home care provider to help them, but the risk of bringing in another person who could potentially transmit the disease weighs heavily on them.

Like Stannard’s family, the Rakiches have tried everything to secure an appointment for Carol’s vaccine – from emails to her doctors offering to take her to any facility in the Bay Area to calls to supervisors. of service to Kaiser members – with no luck.

“I don’t know what to think about it,” Mark Rakich said. “He is a unique patient with unique circumstances.”

Rakish, whose 65-year-old close friend recently received his first dose of the vaccine, called it “shocking” that there is no way for them to get someone as high risk as his or her vaccinated. mother before other less critical patients.

“I’m not asking to jump to the front row. I ask that a 90-year-old woman with diabetes, kidney and heart problems who needs help using the bathroom be put on the list before a healthy 65-year-old, ”he said. he declares.