HEALTH
LGBTQ Seniors Sound Off on COVID Vaccine Hurdles
Tech barriers, anxiety, stigma impact early rollout for queer older adults
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
For more than a month,
Davidson Garrett, a
68-year-old gay man who
lives in Manhattan, tried
scheduling an appointment for the
COVID-19 vaccine, but the state
and city website kept crashing.
“Both of them were ridiculous,”
Garrett said. “I would get onto the
website, and then all of a sudden,
it would say website error and
that you have to go back and start
again.”
This was one of many challenges
limiting Garrett’s access to the
COVID-19 vaccine since the state
fi rst opened eligibility to people
ages 65 and up. He also faced a
wave of backlogged appointments,
was added to a vaccine waitlist,
and never received a follow-up call
for a visit. He said some of the earliest
appointments required him
to travel as far out as Plattsburgh,
New York, which is more than 300
miles from his home in New York
City.
Garrett even walked to the Javits
Center for a walk-in visit, but he
was turned away because the appointments
are scheduled in advance.
As time went on, he became
more frustrated with the process.
“I must have fi lled out the questionnaire
at least 30 times almost
every day,” he said. “That was
when I wanted to pull out what
little hair I had out. I knew it was
going to be a little challenging the
fi rst couple of days, but this went
on for one month. So that was very
frustrating.”
Garrett also said he felt uneasy
about potential privacy risks associated
with entering his information
online.
Whether the process becomes
any easier remains an open question,
but changes are indeed coming.
The New York City Council
passed legislation March 18 that
would require the city to create a
website that would serve as a central
hub for New Yorkers to schedule
vaccine appointments.
According to the CDC, nearly 65
percent of older adults have been
Davidson Garrett had trouble accessing the city and state vaccine websites.
injected with at least one dose of
the vaccine and 36 percent are fully
vaccinated — meaning a majority
of older adults still need at least
one shot. Some seniors lack assistance
in scheduling appointments,
while others struggle with transportation,
wait in long lines ahead
of their appointment, and encounter
misinformation from residents
in nursing home facilities. A report
from SAGE, a non-profi t serving
LGBTQ seniors, shows LGBTQ elders
are especially vulnerable because
they are more likely to live
alone and less likely to have family
support.
“A lot of us, as we get older,
don’t have that younger person to
help guide us through,” Aundaray
Guess, deputy director at Griot Circle,
a center dedicated to serving
LGBTQ seniors of color, told Gay
City News. “Younger folks are signing
up their parents and grandparents
because they know how to
navigate if the screen freezes up,
they know how to refresh.”
Guess recalled that a senior who
did not have a computer called in
to sign up for the vaccine. However,
the lengthy wait time on the phone
eventually prompted the member
to give up.
“There’s that sense of anxiety
and fear that they will never get
it,” Guess said. “There’s frustration
with how the rollout is happening.”
Last month, Garrett successfully
received two doses of the
Pfi zer vaccine — but that was
only because his doctors called.
Since the pandemic started last
March, he has only left his home
for groceries and the occasional
socially distanced walk with a
friend.
“I’ve been very isolated for the
last few months like most people,”
Garrett said. “I know a handful
of people in my own life that have
died of the disease. I’ve had a few
neighbors in my building that have
died of it. So it’s beyond frustrating
when you can’t get the vaccine
when they tell you that it’s available
for your age bracket.”
Robyn Jordan, a 76-year-old
Black transgender woman who
FACEBOOK/DAVIDSON GARRETT
lives in an LGBTQ nursing home
in Brooklyn, has received both
doses of the COVID-19 vaccine
through the Veterans Affairs
health system. While accessing
the vaccine was relatively easy for
Jordan, who is a military veteran,
she recalled other seniors in her
housing complex competing for
fi rst doses.
“I’m glad I got it because, in
the building, they were running
around trying to get the vaccine,”
she said. On one occasion, she
overheard someone saying they
had “a connection at the hospital.”
“Nobody wants to die from
COVID,” Jordan said.
Some of Jordan’s fellow residents
remain anxious about getting vaccinated
— and a select few are refusing
to take a shot. One woman
told her she feels more comfortable
taking one dose instead of the two
doses that the CDC recommends.
“She thought she was beating
the system,” Jordan said, referring
to remembered one person.
“That one shot is not necessarily
enough.”
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