Interpretive Column Final Draft

Differently-abled people and those with underlying health conditions should be first in line to get vaccinated in California. 

There are many middle-aged adults who are immune-compromised that will have to wait several months to get vaccinated under California’s new tier system that will vaccinate from oldest to youngest. 

This criterion is extremely unfair and illogical. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults with disabilities are three times more likely than adults without disabilities to have underlying conditions that make them at higher risk of dying of COVID-19. 

Why is California not providing health equity by vaccinating those who need it most? 

Disabled people typically interact with caregivers and are more likely to experience physical, mental, and discrimination barriers to both preventing COVID-19 and receiving care if infected. 

For example, young to middle-aged individuals who are visually-impaired are put at higher risk of infection when they touch surfaces to navigate or read braille. 

Additionally, differently-abled people are more likely to live in congregate care settings or need to routinely attend communal educational centers to aid their condition. 

Vaccinating the differently-abled and the immune-compromised community would be paramount to improving their quality of life and employment opportunities because critical in-person learning and support services can resume. 

The government needs to realize that being young does not automatically make someone healthy and less susceptible to the virus. 

A 20-year-old female with Down syndrome may have a pre-mature body that makes them ten times more likely to die from COVID-19, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Age should not be the only factor when considering who to vaccinate first because vulnerability to COVID-19 spans across all ages and conditions. 

Let us not forget that people with underlying health conditions are going to be the first to need to return to in-person medical treatments or therapy sessions. 

California argues that the age-based eligibility criterion is simply just easier, faster, and more verifiable. 

However, if people can show proof of their employment sector to get vaccinated, showing proof of disability or underlying condition shouldn’t be much different. 

Prioritizing vaccination by age is just an excuse for the lack of government attention towards these communities and refusal to adapt to its needs. 

Vaccinating by age isn't strategic at all. 

It's throwing a handful of darts towards a target and hoping they land on the dot. 

California needs to take the time to carefully and strategically distribute the vaccine to hard-hit communities like the differently-abled and the immune-compromised. 

It is dishearteningly and honestly ableist and discriminatory that the government views these minority groups as expendable by failing to adapt and provide health equity even in a pandemic. 

The American people include the differently-abled and the immune-compromised and they deserve to not be forgotten.