Doctor Is In by Dr. Adil Manzoor OP/ED
It is no longer news that the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is well underway. As I type this, about 27.8 million people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That’s barely above 8% of our population. I can’t be in any way mad about that figure, considering a few months ago, I didn’t even know when a vaccine will be available.
However, the distribution of the vaccine has also brought some challenges. In this article, we will focus on the challenge of getting these vaccines to veterans.
Right now, it hasn’t been smooth sailing getting vaccines to veterans. Many factors contribute to this and very rarely is it a lack of vaccines. It is actually fascinating that our major problem in the US is not the availability of the vaccine but how to distribute them.
The first issue was transporting the vaccines to rural areas. This is a problem that has affected both vets and ordinary citizens. The initial release of the vaccines needed to be kept at very low temperatures – lower than anything we’ve seen before.
This is very disadvantageous in transporting the vaccines to rural areas. I mean, the long journey to these areas is something the vaccine cannot bear. One thing health workers did was to set up certain bases, but it still poses the same problem as the vets still had to travel long distances to get the vaccine. And as you may imagine, many of them didn’t buy into this. With time, there have been better ways of storing the vaccine. And the much-anticipated release of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will certainly do a lot of good to people in these regions.
Another problem was the veterans just saying no. Yes, they just said ‘no, I’m good.’ While I definitely cannot blame health workers for this, I also wouldn’t blame these vets too much. Seriously, some of the things I see on the internet baffle me. And I’m an experienced Physician. How much more aged vets who have been through myriads of health challenges?
For example, people claiming the vaccine is a ploy by the government to insert trackers into our bodies. Why would the government want to do that? We are all already being tracked via our smartphones and others devices. Another one I personally like is that the vaccine can turn us into zombies. Yes, there are actual human beings who believe this. Aged people, of which vets are included, buy into many of these wild assertions in a bid to keep their health as optimal as possible. You can’t blame them for that, can you?
Who I will blame are the people that bring up these ridiculous and false allegations for no sensible reasons. Why would you do that in the middle of a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 520,000 people and counting here in the US. Raising better awareness will help combat this problem. There have validated large studies on these vaccines before they were even released into circulation. And, I really can’t stress this enough, the vaccines will not turn you into a zombie. I swear.
Another problem that limits access is the bureaucracy involved in administering the vaccine. For one, only vets registered to the VA’s health program are entitled to vaccines. Then, the vaccines are distributed following CDC distribution guidelines. Higher-risk patients are more entitled to the vaccine. At times, it may just be easier for the vets to just get the vaccine directly from their states.
I don’t believe I have to stress just how important it is to vaccinate these veterans. Aside from the fact that many of these vets have given so much of their lives to serving the country, they are also at the highest risk of death from the virus. Any medical doctor’s primary goal is to better people’s health; chronic illnesses and death don’t fit that bill.
One way or the other, the government needs to buckle down on its effort to vaccinating veterans, both in rural and urban communities. Stay safe.
This article was written by Dr. Adil Manzoor DO, a Board Certified Internist & Board Eligible Pediatrician, who works as a Hospitalist, and Emergency Room Physician. He is also the current President of Garden State Street Medicine, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to provide free preventive and acute urgent care services for the homeless. He is also the co-founder of his own unique medical practice Mobile Medicine NJ.
References
· https://www.military times.com/news/pentagon-congress/2021/02/19/for-va-where-veterans-live-is-a-bigger-factor-in-covid-vaccine-refusal-than-race/
· https://www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/
· https://www.legion.org/veteranshealthcare/251716/what-veterans-need-know-about-getting-vaccine-va
· https://khn.org/news/article/to-vaccinate-veterans-health-care-workers-must-cross-mountains-plains-and-tundra/
