Transport challenges put vaccine hopes on hold

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This article was published 13/05/2021 (1772 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EAGER to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Donna Buchanan has been eligible for nearly a month, but logistics still separate the 58-year-old Winnipegger from her shot.

“I can’t just get up and go,” she said.

To get to an appointment, Buchanan needs to make sure her wheelchair is working properly, find a caregiver to accompany her, and arrange transportation.

Even though her age group has been eligible to receive a vaccine since April 16 at a provincial super site, Buchanan has been reluctant to book an appointment without knowing for certain whether someone will be able to come with her.

All adults in Manitoba are now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, but for some getting to the appointment is no small feat.

About 100 Manitobans have sought transportation to vaccine clinics through the United Way’s 211 phone line, since it launched April 15. The needs of all but two were met, said 211 co-ordinator Daniel Leonard.

The phone line refers callers to roughly 65 different services such as Transit Plus, non-profits and volunteer-run transportation, including in rural areas where a lift can be particularly hard to find. Leonard said the United Way is not publishing an online list of such resources, because it wants Manitobans to call and make sure they’re getting the right services for them.

A call for transportation might also include access to a food bank or an employment assistance program, so they help with that, too. Callers sometimes just want information about the province’s immunization efforts, he said.

Transportation calls are declining as much of the province’s older population is already vaccinated. However, 211 organizers are getting ready for increased demand for second-shot appointments, Leonard said.

On Wednesday, Buchanan said she was planning to try the 211 service. She wasn’t eligible for priority vaccine access based on her medical conditions (asthma and cerebral palsy), although she has been on wait lists at a clinic and pharmacy for more than a month.

Typically, any of her trips out have to be planned several days in advance, so when a pharmacy called her Tuesday to offer her a vaccine slot Friday, Buchanan said she had to turn it down. “I said, ‘Well, I can’t, because I have to have somebody with me.’”

She feels as though vulnerable Manitobans have been overlooked in the vaccine rollout, and doesn’t know why the nurses who see her for regular home visits couldn’t offer the vaccine.

“They need to know there are people that can’t get out easily, and we need the vaccine. There needs to be a way to get these vaccines to the people that are having a hard time getting out,” Buchanan said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Manitoba Possible (formerly the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities) said the organization has heard about some in the community being unable to get vaccinated because they don’t have safe transportation, accessibility accommodations or attendant care.

“Knowing that one in four Manitobans have a disability, it is imperative to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the vaccine.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay