When Christine Yano lined up at the Covid-19 vaccination site at the forum earlier this month, she was equipped with proof of her qualifications.
Despite being only 33 years old, Yono qualified because she is the mother of a 15-month-old trio with a long lung disease.
She showed the staff a letter from the Developmental Services Department and a letter from one of the agency’s regional centers. In her hand, she held an ack of medical records that provided further evidence, including prescriptions for her children’s oxygen.
But employees at the scene denied him the shot. The letters could be fake, they said.
“They basically said, ‘Try somewhere else, we’re not taking you.'” Yano said.
As California prepares to open up eligibility for the disability or underlying health status of millions of people, confusion on paper can be a major problem at the front of the vaccine line.
Evidence is required for eligibility, but state and local authorities have yet to establish what documents will be required, or a direct way to sort phone documents from original documents.
Employees at vaccination sites regularly had to try to get people to get shots using forged documents.
LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this month that “hundreds” of unqualified people try to get inoculation every day.
“Some of those people have gone to great lengths, in fact, establishing competence when it comes to hiring people,” Ferrer said.
For most people, verification of eligibility has not been a problem. People over the age of 65 show a California identity or driver’s license. Healthcare workers display badges or other employee identities.
But it becomes more complicated for families like Yano, who are eligible for the vaccine as health care workers under the category of caregiver.
For verification, they need a letter from the Developmental Services Agency and one of its regional centers. But problems also arose after copies of letters began circulating among those who were not vaccinated.
Next month, more than 6 million Californians with disabilities and underlying health conditions will be eligible for inoculation. The state has not yet decided what kind of evidence they will need. This may include a physician’s letter on the appropriate letterhead, a statement from a federal or state agency, or any other form.
A faint series of papers may be needed for testing, as soon-to-qualify categories include cancer, chronic kidney disease, Down syndrome, and other underlying conditions, including pregnancy.
“It’s clear to me that the Department of Public Health and the Surgeon General are really concerned about fraud,” said Nindy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California, a nonprofit advocacy group for people with disabilities. He hopes that past difficulties will not lead to an overly cumbersome process, especially for those who are less mobile or sick.
“If for the system you need to see a physician and get a detailed letter from a physician, there will be a lot of people in California who will have a hard time doing that, even if there was no epidemic,” Imparato said.
Potential barriers will make the system more difficult to access, advocates fear.
“Many people with disabilities, especially those from underworld communities, do not have access to regular healthcare providers. We don’t want to create additional inequalities, “said Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United.
State officials, aware of growing concerns about testing, have raised the issue at meetings of the Public Vaccine Advisory Committee and a task force comprising members of the Department of Elderly, Developmental Services and Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, health officials across the state are awaiting guidance.
“It’s really impossible to put this on every single county to find out what kind of tests are appropriate,” Ferrer said.
There are three types: Skyler, Peyton and Relay.
(Courtesy of John and Christine.)
Meeting the needs of people like Yanos who are already eligible for vaccinations, while the county was hit by an apparent bogus plan.
Many took one letter of eligibility, copied it, and then distributed it to another, according to Ferrer. It is not clear how many caring families were affected.
Similar accounts of family care providers have surfaced in Facebook groups and media reports by fraudsters earlier this month.
Yano and her husband, John, are struggling to maintain the medical needs of their triplets – Riley, Peyton and Skyler. Babies born prematurely at 26 weeks were initially on long-term oxygen for 24 hours a day for lung disease. His fragile condition posed a new threat when the epidemic struck. Because of their weak lungs, they were more susceptible to the effects of the coronavirus, as well as a potentially fatal multi-inflammatory syndrome known as MIS-C that infected children with the virus.
Christine did not expect any problems when she drove from her home in El Segundo to the forum vaccination site. Her husband was vaccinated four days earlier at Dodger Stadium, and the county accepted his request for an appointment.
But when she showed the staff the same documents shown by John, they weren’t convinced. So she showed them more paperwork, but they still said they couldn’t determine if the letters were authentic.
The next day, Christine tried again – and was rejected again. Employees told her she was only vaccinating licensed healthcare workers that day.
On her third attempt, at Dodger Stadium, she was denied once more. But at the time he appealed to the supervisor, who checked his records and allowed him to be vaccinated.
Christine rolled up her sleeve for herself and her family and was given a shot.
It is definitely a relief to know that we have four children under the age of “we will take care of them.”
