By Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press via Star Tribune, February 14, 2021

With vaccine supplies limited and the rollout shaky in much of the United States, getting a shot is difficult. Groups like older people and essential workers are in dire need of the vaccine and state health departments say their plans are aimed at making the most of limited supplies. But the pandemic has also taken a disproportionate toll on people with disabilities around the world.

From Associated Press, via News Tribune, February 124, 2021

Maria Schroeder was worried and increasingly anxious. It was weeks after coronavirus vaccine distribution had started in Missouri, and she still had 11 intellectually disabled residents who required 24-hour support — and no vaccine.She expected good news from the state or elsewhere about when and how to get a vaccine for residents and staff members, alike. Then, finally, in mid-January, the state sent her a list.

But Schroeder, assistant director for L'Arche St. Louis, which runs three group homes in St. Louis County, quickly realized the list was cluttered with every brick-and-mortar CVS, Walgreens and Costco — locations that, while approved to vaccinate, often had no doses of vaccine.

Over the next two work days, Schroeder made 200 calls, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"We're a very small agency, we don't have a lot of connections," Schroeder said. "It was very obvious if I didn't do this, we weren't going to get vaccines."

The leaders of St. Louis-area group homes that adults with intellectual disabilities have struggled to secure doses of COVID-19 vaccine for their staff and clients. With little help from the state, some said, the group-home leaders began a dogged and sometimes desperate hunt. They made hundreds of phone calls, sent staff driving across the state, and cut deals with colleagues, health care services, and anybody else they could reach.

Most have now gotten at least some doses. But their stories illustrate the intense shortage of communication, distribution and vaccine itself, especially in the rollout's early days.

Even for the high-risk.

By Elizabeth Schiltz, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, February 14, 2021

The daily bombardment of numbers and statistics about Covid-19 – the hospitalizations, the deaths, the numbers of people who have received first or second doses of the vaccine – makes me feel like a Londoner during the Blitz. I just want to hide in the bomb shelter of my basement with my knitting and another episode of whatever Netflix has to offer. I do understand the impulse behind the refuge we try to find in numbers: If we can measure any aspect of this baffling and devastating virus, maybe we can gain control of it.

But as I try to digest that daily flood of numbers, I keep hearing in my mind the saying that’s often misattributed to Gandhi: “A civilization is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”'

By that measure, Minnesota is not doing so well. People with disabilities are experiencing dramatically more adverse consequences from the pandemic than other populations.

Some physical disabilities can be underlying medical risk factors, of course. But equally troubling is the research consistently showing that people with intellectual disabilities are significantly more likely to die from Covid-19 than others – some studies show up to 10 times more likely. The research supporting these findings has led the CDC to add one category of intellectual disability – Down Syndrome – to the list of underlying medical conditions increasing the risk for severe illness from the Covid virus. Some states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas, are following the lead of the CDC and including people with Down Syndrome or developmental disabilities generally, among those currently eligible for Covid vaccinations. An online petition urging Gov. Walz to follow the science and add Minnesotans with Down Syndrome to Phase 1b of the vaccination plan has gathered almost 10,000 signatures.

People with disabilities are suffering disproportionately from the effects of the pandemic in other ways, too. Online education has been a challenge for all school-aged children, but children with disabilities are really being left behind. It is proving almost impossible for schools to offer the personalized services and supports required to ensure the education of children with disabilities, no matter how dedicated and creative the special education teachers and aides might be. The Office for Civil Rights for the Department of Education has launched investigations in a number of states based on parents’ complaints that these failures violate the legal obligations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

By Natisha Lance, 11Alive, February 16, 2021

The families and advocates for people with developmental disabilities is pushing to get them vaccines sooner. "As a mom I want my son to be safe, and not be scared that he is going die from this," explained Stephanie Meredith. "It’s a constant shadow to live under that."

Meredith’s son, Andy, has Down syndrome. She is just one of a group of parents and advocates asking the state to move those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers up on the list for vaccine eligibility. 

"We were pretty surprised when we saw in the vaccine rollout plan," Meredith recalled. "People with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities would not be included until (phase) 1C, which puts them behind essential services workers."

That means Meredith’s son could get the vaccine as a grocery store employee sooner than someone with Down syndrome, even though the CDC puts them at an “increased risk of more severe illness” from COVID-19. 

Eric Jacobson, the executive director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, said it could put this population, said it's cause for concern.

"People with disabilities and their families and staff that cares for them have been exposed to the virus on higher levels, and they’ve had to isolate themselves even more to make sure there is not that spread of the virus," he said.

That's why Jacobson, on behalf of the council and other advocates, sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp and other state officials in December asking for the community to get bumped up before the vaccine rollout plan was released. The letter referenced states like Ohio and Oregon, which put disabled individuals in their first two priority groups. 

Jacobson said they still have not received a response to the letter. 

By Nelson Garcia, News 9, February 15, 2021

When it comes to protecting his son, Bob Lawhead said he wants his son to have the ability to be protected from COVID-19."My son is 24 years old. He has Down syndrome," Lawhead said. 

Lawhead is the policy advisor to the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council, a group that released a report stating that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are 4-to-5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to everyone else.

"When you have 4-to-5 times greater risk of death, there is reason to prioritize you," Lawhead said.

"Many people with developmental disabilities just have a difficult time understanding the importance of social distancing, wearing masks and hand washing," Lawhead said.

Lawhead said Jess has been trapped in his home for months. He can't go out to volunteer. He can't go out to work at Cosmo's Pizza in Boulder. But Lawhead said the issue is bigger than his son. He said it impacts an estimated 75,000 people around Colorado at a time when teachers and other essential workers are starting to get the vaccine.

"I appreciate the fact that Colorado is trying to make that balance," Lawhead said. "We do feel however that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have been forgotten in that metric."

Lawhead said he is making an appeal to the governor to add this group of people with disabilities to the vaccine prioritization list. 

"It is a little frustrating to see other people moving into the 1B category and obviously moving up ahead of this very, very vulnerable group," Lawhead said.

This chart is not all-inclusive and does not cover municipalities, some of which have issued their own guidance. Nor does the chart include vaccine provider registration procedures or industry-specific guidance. The purpose of the below information is to give employers a general idea of what vaccine-related actions various jurisdictions are taking.

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VOR OPPOSES:

H.R. 603 & S. 53 - The Raise the Wage Act - These bills are aimed at raising the minimum wage, but they also have provisions to phase out and ultimately eliminate vocational centers and 14 (c) wage certificates over the next six years and to immediately stop the issuing of any new certificates. VOR believes the issue of employment options for individuals with intellectual disabilities should not be buried in a bill for raising the federal minimum wage. Both issues deserve clean, stand-alone bills.

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