‘Sigh of relief’ after Massachusetts adds asthma to vaccine eligibility, but concern for medical conditions left out
Some anxious asthmatics are able to “breathe a sigh of relief” now that Gov. Charlie Baker has added moderate-to-severe asthma to the list of comorbidities eligible for vaccines, but many others continue to be shut out.
“It does help me because before I was in the general public, and now I’m in Phase 2,” said Rick Mahoney, who has severe and persistent asthma.
Yet when people over the age of 65 and those two or more comorbidities become eligible for shots on Thursday, Mahoney will have to wait. The Medway resident is 63, and his other medical conditions — including hypertension and Churg-Strauss syndrome, a rare type of vasculitis that affects his lungs — don’t qualify.
“It’s frustrating,” Mahoney said. “I have a team of doctors … and they’ve all told me if you catch this, there’s a good likelihood they’re going to have to intubate you and you might die.”
The Baker administration added moderate-to-severe asthma to the comorbidities list on Wednesday, more than a week after the Herald reported it was left off. Activists, state lawmakers and even U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley quickly called to include the respiratory condition, citing issues with vaccine access in lower-income and largely minority communities hard hit by the pandemic that have long shown high rates of asthma.
“It’s going to have a big impact for people who did not qualify before that will now based on their health vulnerabilities, and in places like Chelsea and East Boston and Springfield that have huge impacts from air pollution,” said Maria Belen Power of Chelsea-based GreenRoots.
Baker said “environmental and economic justice” were at the root of his administration’s decision to break with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that says moderate-to-severe asthma only “might” put people at increased risk for severe illness with COVID-19.
“There’s tons of studies that have been done that demonstrate that at-risk communities and communities of color have historically had higher rates of asthma — child asthma, adult asthma — and a lot of that has to do with decisions that were made years ago with respect to how people chose to build neighborhoods and communities,” Baker said. “It’s a legitimate issue and we view it as much as an equity issue as a medical issue.”
Brigham and Women’s Hospital allergist Dr. Lakiea Wright said, “some patients with asthma will breathe a sigh of relief because they wanted access to the vaccine and now they have it.”
But 33-year-old Weymouth mom Tayloir Spain, who has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain’s cavities that’s required a shunt and numerous surgeries, will have to wait.
“I’ve never used my disabilities as an excuse or to try to get ahead of people,” Spain said. “I just wish there was a little more help and support, especially in this time for this community.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/37qNNhn
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