Homeless Americans who have been left off priority lists for coronavirus vaccinations — or even bumped aside as states shifted eligibility to older age groups — are finally getting their shots as vaccine supplies increase.
While the
COVID-19 outbreaks have been documented at homeless shelters in cities such as
“It was important for me to protect myself and the health and welfare of others,” said
“I feel like I can move around without anyone getting me sick,” she said. “It’s good to know that I don’t have to go back for a second one.”
The single-shot vaccine is preferred by many clinics who serve homeless people and by homeless people themselves, said
The
Watts said he's worried the pause will lead to more vaccine hesitancy.
“Assuming it is ultimately found to be safe and effective, it will be harder to convince people — especially people experiencing homelessness — that it is safe,” Watts said.
Homeless people are at greater risk of being infected and greater risk of hospitalization and death than the average person, Watts said. Shorter lifespans — chronic homelessness can take 20 to 30 years off a person’s life — should have qualified them for vaccination priority much earlier, Watts said.
Instead, political pressure to vaccinate older adults moved them to the back of the line. Clinics serving them, Watts said, “were put in the unreasonable position of saying, 'I know all of you are at high risk, but I can vaccinate only the few or you who are over age 70.'"
Now, that’s changing. With eligibility opening widely, homeless service providers are mobilizing to get vaccine to shelters and encampments.
In
“Looking people in their eyes, telling them the truth about the vaccine ... I love what I do every day,” said
She described a homeless woman, covered in tattoos, who at first said she didn’t want the shot because she didn’t like needles. Pointing to her tattoos, “we said, ‘How can you say you’re afraid of needles?’ She said, ‘You’re right, you’re right. I’m going to go tell my brother. He’s over there.’” Both siblings got vaccinated that day.
Vaccinating homeless people is good for the health of everyone, said
“We’re all in it together. The more shots in arms the better," Ramirez said. "The more folks who are vaccinated, the stronger we are in building herd immunity and the faster we can reopen our city and engage with each other like we were before.”
Giving outreach workers a unified message was important in
“Let’s please all sing off the same song sheet,” said
All homeless adults in
The district also trained key shelter residents “so they could be ambassadors for the vaccine and talk about it to their peers,” said Dr.
Walk-up vaccine events are crucial for a population with limited access to cars, cellphones or Wi-Fi, organizers say.
In
“In our area, there are 10,000 people experiencing homelessness. We’ve got a ways go to. It’s a start,” Emerson said.
Even before the pandemic, homelessness had been rising across the
The pandemic’s economic downturn uprooted people from their homes despite a moratorium on evictions. Cities closed crowded shelters to prevent infection, offering rooms in motels, but some shelter users who didn’t want to move to unfamiliar neighborhoods joined those on the streets.
How much the pandemic is further increasing the number of homeless Americans isn’t entirely clear. Many cities, under stay-at-home orders, canceled their annual homeless counts this year.
In
In
For Oliver, the pandemic was the least of her worries when she arrived in
“Abuse, unemployment, losing everything,” Oliver said. “My life, it wasn’t that great. I was experiencing things prior to COVID that prepared me to deal with this pandemic.”
She says
She sums up her philosophy: “You wake up and you’re still living. You’re breathing, you got two legs, you got two feet. Be thankful."
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