Vulnerable seniors ‘hunting and pecking’ online in search of scarce COVID-19 vaccine
Nancy Hogan’s story is common when it comes to looking for COVID-19 vaccines.
Hogan, 84, of University Place, told The News Tribune in a recent phone interview that without being tech savvy and living independently, she’s had no luck trying to get vaccinated in Pierce County.
Online scheduling has been out of her reach, she said, as she’s not used to modern-day computer technology.
“I mean I’ve been a typist all my life, an office manager. When the computers were just computers I was fine, finding my way around,” Hogan said. “but since they’ve become all this crazy stuff, I don’t find my way around.”
She’s relied on a friend to look for a vaccine appointment online.
“Just last night she called me that she had to do quite a bit of searching, and looks like I won’t be able to get it until March or April,” Hogan said. “That’s not good news to somebody who’s been hunkering down in her home for months and months. And I don’t even go to my doctor’s appointments anymore because I’m so scared of getting it.”
Officials across the nation are being confronted with stories of how seniors are increasingly being squeezed out of the very vaccine supplies made available to them in the current phase.
To that end, state and local officials are pairing distributors with agencies as one way to tackle the issue; and working to improve outreach.
It’s not just a Washington state problem or a people-without-computer-skills problem.
Carol Stewart, 72, of Albany, Oregon, told The News Tribune in a phone interview that in her state, there are few updates made widely available from local officials online.
“I’ve tried to go online to find anything for Linn County to whether I could get on some kind of a list, and I haven’t been able to find anything that suggests a wait list,” she said. “I don’t know whether it’s just me or whether it’s not really there.”
Stewart put herself on a list in Benton County, Oregon, “just to kind of hear what’s going on in the neighboring county.”
Stewart said she spends about 10 minutes each day online searching for updates. Having given up cable TV years ago, she said, “I thought I would hear something on the radio, some update there.”
So far. Nothing.
“I mean, when they talk about COVID over and over and over on the radio, or information coming out of Portland and when you’ve got your governor on the radio, you think, ‘OK, well, that’s a good enough source. I’m all good. And then you think, ‘Well, I don’t know anything yet.’ But I should know, I feel, at this point, right?”
Hogan agreed.
“I mean, it should be right out there — you don’t have to go hunting and pecking and praying every night that you’re going to luck on to something,” Hogan said.
“It’s ridiculous.”
She and many other seniors seeking the vaccine have told The News Tribune they don’t use social media such as Twitter, where the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has posted registration links for vaccines, along with its website www.tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture.
Hogan and Stewart’s situations are a frustrating scenario for state and local officials trying to help individuals out of reach of Twitter and online registrations for mass vaccination events.
WHEN DEMAND OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY
Seniors, among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus, have been eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines in Washington state since mid-January. Many who are part of that population might find it difficult or impossible to access technology and tools to efficiently track down doses.
Michele Roberts, who’s leading COVID-19 vaccine planning and distribution at the state Department of Health (DOH), said the department is sharing information through area agencies on aging, senior centers and other community partners in order to reach those people.
Another key part of the equation: Ensuring phone lines can handle an influx of calls at the state level and local providers offering the life-saving vaccine.
“It’s really multifaceted with a lot of different people working on it to ensure there are multiple ways people will know about how to get vaccine,” Roberts said at a press conference Jan. 26.
As of Feb. 2, state DOH had reported more than 728,636 doses of the vaccine given statewide.
There are many more people eligible for the potentially life-saving shot than there are doses coming in from the federal government, and vaccine appointments fill up quickly.
During Tuesday morning’s signup for two mass vaccination clinics in East Pierce County, available appointments for a combined 3,500 people were filled within 22 minutes.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said more clinics are on the way, and this week Safeway-Albertsons announced that all of its pharmacies would have COVID-19 vaccine allocations as early as Feb. 11.
The company also noted that appointments could only be booked online.
One breakthrough of reaching those without computers has been for entities such as Safeway to partner with local agencies.
To that end, the grocery retailer recently worked with Pierce County Health and Human Services “to identify those with access barriers and hosted them at two of our stores in Tacoma,” company representative Sara Osborne told The News Tribune on Tuesday via email. “PCHHS provided the transportation and interpreter, and we reserved the appointments for them —150 people.”
“We will be working with Pierce County on an ongoing basis on these, as well as Metro Parks Tacoma to identify some locations for hosting off-site clinics if needed,” Osborne wrote.
DOH points people to its online Phase Finder tool to start any statewide search for a vaccine.
The tool doesn’t schedule appointments but shows a list of vetted providers who have shared their information with DOH. A person can follow that provider’s link for scheduling information.
The state also runs a “COVID-19 Assistance Hotline” (800-525-0127, then press #). The hotline has experienced “high volumes of calls” recently and continues to add staff to meet the need for assistance with the online scheduling tools, Franji Mayes, DOH spokesperson, said via email.
An optional number also has been made available: 888-856-5816.
Hotline capacity for helping people make appointments is focused on the state’s four mass-vaccination sites, according to Mayes. Those sites are located in Benton, Clark, Chelan, and Spokane counties.
Assistance for making appointments at those sites is available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to Mayes.
The hotline also can help people with Phase Finder, according to Mayes, but anyone needing help making an appointment at a location other than those mass-vaccination sites will still need to contact that provider.
In the end, she pointed to finding help to navigate the online options as the next-best method to going online yourself.
“We’re strongly encouraging people to use Phase Finder and make appointments with the online links,” she wrote. “If they’re not comfortable using the online tools, asking a friend or family member may be the next best choice. This allows the hotline to be more available for those who have no internet access or assistance.”
The department is “looking for ways to make scheduling more accessible and equitable,” she wrote.
PIERCE COUNTY OPTIONS
Karen Irwin is communications lead for the local health department’s COVID response.
Irwin told The News Tribune via email that for now, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department offers a subscription email list “for people interested in receiving news about upcoming clinics and pop-up clinics.”
That’s available at tpchd.org/notify.
The health department noted it had 14,200 subscribers to its email list since adding the option late Thursday.
The department lists its upcoming events at tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture and offers links to registration via its social media accounts and on its website.
“We get details, such as how much vaccine will be available very close to scheduled events. Given such high demand, spots will fill very quickly,” Irwin noted.
As for a phone option for the mass vaccine events, that’s still in the works.
“At this time, vaccine registration will depend on a computer-based platform. We are hard at work on other solutions, such as phone registration options. We will offer more options for community clinics in the weeks and months ahead,” she said via email Jan. 28.
The use of social media has particularly been a point of frustration for some seniors.
“The TPCHD site made it clear that phoning was not an option,” wrote Catherine Taylor, 70, of Tacoma in an email to The News Tribune. She said she gave up on social media during the presidential election and proliferation of disinformation.
“What about the people who’ve made similar choices or who have never had social media accounts ... ?” Taylor wrote. “What about people who don’t own a computer or are too poor to pay for broadband connections?”
She signed onto the mailing list, went to the department’s event registration website Tuesday morning, but said it never showed the links to register when she tried it Tuesday.
“I’m sure I’m not alone in my frustration. Getting access to vaccinations on which my life might depend should not be as hard as getting tickets to a Fleetwood Mac concert,” Taylor said via email.
The department shared an archived screen grab with The News Tribune that showed links on the page.
“We filled 3,500 appointments, 1,000 at Franklin Pierce and 2,500 at the fairgrounds, in 22 minutes,” Irwin said via email.
“After that time, the link was closed.”
Other local agencies have stepped in to try to help improve outreach.
Kari Moore, public information specialist for Pierce County Human Services, told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that Aging and Disability Resources has been coordinating with the local health department “to support their older adult vaccine outreach plan.”
“We work closely with the Department of Emergency Management to keep older adults and other vulnerable populations updated with the latest vaccine information through our Aging and Disability Resource Center and community partners,” Moore said. “If they don’t have internet access or need support online, we can help navigate the DOH Phase Finder tool.”
She said ADR with TPCHD hosts vaccine presentations at meetings with a local aging provider network, Health Care Providers Council, and the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) community forum.
“We continue to offer free, educational workshops to the community on similar topics such as home and facility safety measures, PPE and more,“ Moore said.
“TPCHD and our Department of Emergency Management Access and Functional Needs Coordinator have also been offering similar outreach and education to our community partners at the Centers for Independence, WA State Independent Living Council and DSHS,” she added.
It’s not just educational outreach. Aging and Disability Resources “has distributed 3,500 COVID Home Safety Kits,” she wrote.
“These kits offer a File of Life, two cloth masks, hand sanitizer and information on COVID. Additionally, we’ve worked with senior centers to provide essential groceries to older adults in need,” Moore said. “To date, we have distributed 550 grocery bags that include canned goods, cleaning products, face masks, bath tissue and more.”
File of Life is a medical ID that provides medical information of allergies, medications and more to emergency medical providers.
While all of those are essential needs, specific vaccine distribution remains hindered by supply and ultimately in many cases, outreach via phone for people to dial in and make appointments anywhere, anytime.
‘IT’S LIKE ANY EMERGENCY’
For now, many are still turning to friends and relatives to help them find a valuable appointment for a COVID vaccine.
Gov. Jay Inslee, in recent remarks, put some of the onus on everyone to help seniors.
“One of the things — it’s like in any emergency, in an earthquake, or a mudslide at Oso — what I’ve learned is that a significant part of the rescue is by individuals, it’s by us,” he said. “It’s taking care of our neighbors, our relatives, extending a hand.”
Grandkids can help their grandparents, he said as an example.
“This is a moment in time where all of us can step up and help people.”
Amid all the frustration, there’s a happy ending for at least one of the seniors interviewed for this article.
Hogan’s son got her a vaccine appointment through the local health department’s lightening round of registrations Tuesday morning.
“He said he had a dickens of a time getting through. He said there was just everybody backed up on everybody,” in trying to get the form filled out and a spot reserved, she said.
“I’m scheduled along with my husband on Thursday afternoon at Puyallup fairgrounds. Praise God. I’m so relieved,” she said.
“I’m not going anywhere until then make sure I don’t come into contact with anybody and then I’m going to quarantine myself for two weeks afterwards until I get the second shot.”
For more information, see The News Tribune’s guide to vaccines in Pierce County.
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