When New Mexico announced that it was expanding the pool of people eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine to residents 75 and older, Anthony Kump, who is 80, immediately signed up.
On Saturday, after waiting in a line of cars outside an Albuquerque clinic, he rolled down his window and got a shot. But his wife, Udella, who is 81 and has diabetes, has been unable to sign up for a vaccine at all. “Not eligible,” the couple says the state health department portal read after she tried to register.
The Kumps are among many older Americans grappling with the nation’s evolving distribution system, which has opened up the prospect of vaccines to millions more people this week, but has simultaneously set off a new wave of confusion and chaos.
“Obviously, I’m very frustrated because there’s nothing we can do,” Mr. Kump said, adding that he has called a health department hotline 50 times to try to get his wife the vaccine without reaching an actual person. “We’ve run out of options.”
A spokesman for New Mexico’s health department said someone in Ms. Kump’s circumstance should be eligible for the vaccine and that thousands of older New Mexico residents have successfully registered for shots.
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At least 28 states and Washington, D.C., have begun vaccinating older people, a New York Times survey shows, in many cases marking a shift in earlier plans that had put medical workers and nursing home residents at the front of the line for Covid-19 inoculations.
As cases and deaths from the virus reach record levels across the United States, much is in flux when it comes to states’ plans for distributing the vaccine. At least 32 states have expanded their vaccination programs to include critical workers, such as police officers, teachers, grocery store employees and other people at risk of being exposed to the virus on the job. More than a dozen states have said they are expecting to expand their vaccination pools significantly before the end of the month.
Where Older Adults Are Eligible for Vaccines
More than half the states have begun vaccinations for older adults, in addition to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
65+
70+
75+
Not yet prioritizing by age
D.C.
Iowa
Kan.
Ky.*
Ala.
Alaska
Ariz.*
Ark.
Calif.*
Colo.
Conn.
Fla.
Ga.
Hawaii
Idaho
Ill.*
Ind.
Texas
Utah
Vt.
La.
Maine
Md.
Mass.
Mich.
Minn.
Miss.
Mo.
Mont.
Neb.
N.H.
N.J.
N.M.
N.Y.
N.C.
N.D.*
Ohio
Okla.
Ore.
Pa.
R.I.
S.C.
S.D.
Tenn.*
Va.*
Wash.
W.Va.
Wis.
Wyo.*
Del.
Nev.*
*Eligible only in some counties. Data is as of Jan. 14.
Sources: State and county health departments.
The changing vaccine rollout in many states, which matches a new federal appeal this week that all people over 65 — not just those in long-term care facilities — should be prioritized, was embraced by many older people, who have been the most vulnerable to Covid-19 and have been waiting eagerly for vaccinations and a return to normal life. But the sudden availability to so many more people also caused a deluge of problems as people tried to figure out whether their state was now allowing them to get shots, how to sign up, and where to go.
“Once we get people in, the experience is wonderful,” said Logan Boss, a spokesman for the Northwest Health District in Georgia, which on Monday expanded access to the vaccine to people over the age of 65.
Until then, the process can be fraught, he said. “It’s the anxiety, the frustration, the difficulty people have in scheduling appointments — which we are making with a very limited supply of vaccine that comes in — in quantities that we don’t know until it arrives,” he said.
In states across the country, demand for the vaccine has far outweighed supply, leading to crashed websites, long lines outside vaccination clinics and overwhelmed public health departments that are facing a torrent of calls and emails.
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While the federal government advises states on how best to distribute vaccines, states follow their own plans, and that has created a patchwork of policies. While a few states offered shots to older people in December or early January, most focused their initial vaccination plans on medical workers and those in long-term care facilities. But the rules are changing by the day: At least 14 states and Washington, D.C., opened up vaccinations to older people this week, and some of those changes came after the new federal call on Tuesday to open up vaccines to a wider group.
In Connecticut, people 75 and older are newly eligible for shots. In a few states, including Arizona and North Dakota, which opened up access this week to a far larger group, the rules vary from county to county. In Indiana, people 70 and older were permitted to start signing up for vaccines on Wednesday, and, by that afternoon, nearly 60,000 of them had done so. The state’s call center had long waits.
“You can imagine it’s almost like a gold rush, but it’s a vaccine rush,” Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana said.
the New York Times