Persons with Developmental & Intellectual Disabilities Under 55 years-old Left Stranded
Yesterday the ADHS Director announced that she will do away with the former “numbered phase” system and switch to an age-based distribution model, starting with vaccinating anyone 55 and older at two non-county operated vaccination sites in Maricopa County. Counties can follow suit using a decision tree that the ADHS announced yesterday.
There is some merit to the new approach. Most chronic medical conditions that put people at high risk for a bad outcome do occur in persons over 55 years old. So, in that respect, the decision makes sense. Also, it’s easier to verify eligibility based on age compared to a specific chronic medical condition. Can you imagine vaccinators asking people to prove that they have diabetes or a heart condition? That would have been super-awkward and hard to verify.
But, there’s an important group of folks under 55 years old who are at high risk that have been left out in the cold by yesterday’s decision by Director Christ.
NEW: View this episode of Sunday Square Off for a Concise summary of this injustice
I’m talking about persons enrolled in AHCCCS’ ALTCS or Arizona Long Term Care System. ALTCS members are folks that have a disability (often an intellectual or developmental disability like Down’s Syndrome). Some ALTCS members live in a congregate setting but most receive support services in a home or community-based setting.
Before yesterday’s decision, ALTCS members were poised to qualify for a vaccine shortly (regardless of age) because of the chronic medical conditions that many of them have (most were in the former Category 1c). The 5,000 or so ALTCS members that live in a group home already qualified for a vaccine because they are in Category 1b because they live in a ‘congregate setting’.
With the new age-based system, ALTCS members under 55 years old who don’t live in a group home will have to wait a lot longer to get a vaccine. This puts this them at risk for complications if infected. Basically, they will need to wait until their age is called despite the vulnerability that their disabilities pose.
For example, many ALTCS members are persons with Down Syndrome. After adjusting for age and sex, ethnicity, BMI, care home residency, and congenital heart disease, research shows that folks with Down’s Syndrome have a 10 times higher risk of death if diagnosed with COVID-19.
There are about about 20,000 ALTCS members between 18 and 54 years old. About 4,000 of them live in group homes (and have had an opportunity to get vaccinated), which means we’re talking about 16,000 vulnerable adults enrolled in ALTCS and living in the community who will now need to wait even longer for an opportunity to get vaccinated.
Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities contribute much to our lives and communities. Yesterday’s decision by Director Christ to go to a strictly age-based system without considering the special needs of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities undervalues their contributions and sends a message that they’re not important.
Surely Director Christ can find it in within herself to add persons living with intellectual & developmental disabilities under 55 years old to the list of folks that qualify for a vaccine right now.
At least you’d hope so.
Note: If you’d like to show additional support, you can contact the Arizona Department of Health Services at 602.542.1025 or contact Director Christ at cara.christ@azdhs.gov and urge her to take into consideration the special needs of persons living with intellectual and developmental disabilities and add them to the list of persons that can get vaccinated right now.
