I’m concerned that newly relaxed priority guidelines for receiving a COVID-19 vaccination will delay our primary school teachers receiving theirs. It makes good sense for older people who are not healthy to be high on the priority list. But I, and possibly others who are 65 and older that feel relatively virus-secure based on good health, would be willing to have a teacher take our place in line.
A recent call to the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic revealed that such a person-for-person substitution is not provided for up to now. We could, of course, simply delay our request for a vaccination, allowing others to move ahead. But if there are, as is probable, many healthy 65+ people who will be rushing to be vaccinated, delaying one’s own inoculation would likely result in one of them, rather than a teacher, receiving a timelier dose of the vaccine.
In Monday’s COVID- 19 report to the state, Governor Walz made such a stepping-aside suggestion to healthy 65+ people. I hope other older citizens will make such a gesture. Also, most effective in getting our teachers vaccinated would be a clear person-by-person procedure for such substitutions. The logistics of vaccination delivery is already complicated, but some dilemmas are worth the effort of creating and implementing knotty procedures.
Charles F. Darley (age 74)
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