Document text
Give it a shot By Sharon Johnson Oct 30, 2022 12:30 AM A A “We should be flooding people with information to the point that it gets irritating.” Those are the words of Anne N. Soskin, a researcher at Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Services. She is referring to the lack of compelling media attention to older adults’ need for information about the most recently available COVID booster shot. She publicly laments the fact that updates about the importance of the boosters have become “muddled.” There is not enough available information — and what is out there is not moving elders to act. I’m willing to take the risk of irritating you to action today. Prepare yourself. Like you, or your parents or grandparents, I’m in the vulnerable candidate pool of people over age 65 who need a boost the most. It’s because we are more susceptible to the coronavirus and its variants; with age, our immune systems become weaker. For the same reason, we should wash our hands more frequently with warm water, soap and lots of friction. Older adults’ vulnerability is heightened by the increased transmissibility of the COVID omicron variant. The virus is still out there — we can still become extremely sick, be hospitalized and even die. It was sobering to see that nationwide “deaths in the over-65 age group doubled from April to July of this year.” Think of your risks like this: Many of us have underlying chronic conditions like diabetes or heart and lung disease that make us more vulnerable. We are at more risk if we are overweight or obese. We are at more risk if we smoke. We are at more risk because there is the likelihood of a winter surge, and we will be attending maskless holiday encounters with friends and family. I take pride in the fact that during the pandemic years, which coincided with my husband’s cancer treatments, I was able to keep him/us fully vaccinated and COVID-free. The idea that he would be diagnosed with coronavirus and be hospitalized, and I would not be allowed to be with him in the hospital, was a primary motivator. That still motivates me but in another way. Like many elders living alone, I need to attend to my own preventive strategies. There is no one readily available to remind me about good health practices. I am in charge of me. A few weeks after my spouse’s death, the most recent booster was announced. I immediately did everything I could to find out who was offering the shots and where. I spent hours on the phone trying to make an appointment to get boosted. I queried friends about their attempts, went to cdc.gov and to my local health department website. I called my local pharmacy. I finally googled “COVID boosters near me.” When I secured an appointment, I drove to an unfamiliar Target store 45 minutes from my home, waited in a line near their CVS pharmacy, which notably contained only younger and middle-age individuals, and finally got a COVID booster shot in my right arm and a flu shot in my left arm. It felt like an insurance policy. Still does. Sharon Johnson is a retired health educator; reach her at [email protected]