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When the pandemic hit, Jan Erik Lindmark left the apartment in Gothenburg to isolate himself at the holiday home in Orust.
Then the 83-year-old man lost his home care service and thus his place in the vaccination queue.
– I look forward to the vaccination, this will be another step in depression, he says.
Photo: PRIVATE
Jan Erik, 83, got rid of the home care service when he isolated himself on the landing; now he has to wait for a vaccine.
In mid-March, the spread of the coronavirus around the world became a fact. At home from his apartment in Gothenburg, Jan Erik Lindmark watched the news as the situation in Sweden became increasingly dire with rising death rates. At 83, the 83-year-old man was in a high-risk group and began to worry about being infected by the new virus.
And since March last year he has lived in his holiday home in Orust.
– I felt that I wanted to isolate myself in the field so as not to catch it. Because I’m older I’ve had a stroke and I have all kinds of flaws in me, I probably couldn’t cope if I got infected, he says.
When Aftonbladet reaches out to him on the phone, he is at his vacation home. And here it has been sitting for almost a year. While waiting for the pandemic to end so that he can regain his daily life and social life.
– It’s lonely here. I read five newspapers online every day, then it’s TV and I’m interested in sports, so I have survived with their help.
“The bureaucracy cannot handle this”
Hope was kindled when vaccines began in the middle of the day. But according to the Swedish vaccination plan, the elderly in special housing and those receiving home care are first in line. This has caused Jan Erik to get into trouble.
When he moved from Gothenburg Municipality to Orust, he lost his home service. Previously, it was possible for the elderly to receive home care at their field location, but last year Orust decided not to offer it, something for which they received criticism from JO as the decision is not supported by law. The consequence? Jan Erik dropped the vaccination order from phase 1 to phase 2.
– You get quite bitter about the prioritization. Not everyone who receives home care is very sick and there are many who do not suffer from diseases that have any meaning for the crown. But the bureaucracy cannot distinguish between these, he says.
Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY
People with home care have priority in vaccination.
Think about how sick the elderly are and what risk groups they belong to, so that you know that the most difficult patients are the ones who get vaccinated first.
Don’t you dare meet the children
To date, 80,000 have been vaccinated in Sweden. But when Jan Erik will receive his syringe it is difficult to answer. According to vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström, all Swedes will be able to receive a vaccine in mid-summer.
– I was hoping that now we would have achieved a higher vaccination rate, says Jan Erik.
The fact that certain care staff have now been prioritized makes the waiting time even longer for Jan Erik and other 70-year-olds. The uncertainty of not having an end date for your isolation is the worst.
– It will be one more step in depression. I look forward to vaccines and stuff. But when you don’t know when something will happen, it feels difficult. Sometimes you think it will be autumn and another day it will be February.
Now Jan Erik has decided that he will remain isolated on Orust for another time. For a social person like him, it feels difficult, he says.
– Before that I met my children. But I don’t dare because they are teachers and such. I met them a little outside on the terrace this summer, but when it got dark and it rained it wasn’t so good anymore.
She receives help with the purchase from some neighbors and instead of home care, she has purchased cleaning services with the help of square deductions.
– I am not complaining and I am not alone in this situation. But it’s hard on loneliness and darkness and everything, it’s not fun.
PODD Vaccine problems
Aftonbladet Daily with vaccine researcher Matti Sällberg.
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