Woman trekked 6 miles in the snow for vaccine

It was an extraordinary effort, but it wasn’t within that range. Goldman, who qualified for the vaccine last month, has already tried everything she can think of to secure her promise. She made numerous wasted visits to the websites of local pharmacies, hospitals and government health departments. She had her New York daughter and a friend in Arizona help her find an appointment.

Finally, on Friday, a visit to the Seattle Children’s Hospital website brought results.

“Behold, the full list of times has appeared,” she said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I went and got my glasses and made sure they looked right.”

After that, it snowed. This will eventually fall more than 10 inches on one of Seattle’s snowiest weekends. Worried about driving on uncultivated roads in the hills, Goldman decided to walk to the hospital. She did a test walk in the middle of Saturday to figure out how long it would take to travel.

And on Sunday, she trekked all the way to the hospital to get the vaccine.

She said the promise went well. Goldman also had a special meaning because he was able to recall the joy of the 1955 National Celebration when another important vaccine was developed.

“I can remember when the polio vaccine was launched,” Goldman said. She was a young mother at the time, and polio sickened tens of thousands of children, sometimes paralyzing and dying. She remembers taking her children to vaccination at the school in Cincinnati where she lived.

The deployment of the vaccine “has been done in a very organized way and has made a big difference in the way people can live in the summer. Not only do people not get sick, they also have to live with threats. I didn’t. I’ll get sick. “

This time, Goldman was disappointed with the distribution of the vaccine. “There is no excuse for it being done as it used to be,” she said. “It wasn’t organized. It wasn’t fully organized.”

Seattle is just one of many places in the United States where residents struggle to access vaccines.

Sharon Bogan, a spokesman for the Seattle and King County Public Health Service, said: “We knew this would take some time, even under the best of circumstances. Eligible residents like Mr. Goldman had a hard time accessing reservations due to limited vaccine supplies. We know that. “

Deployment in Washington is complicated by technology failures, lack of equity, and a persistent imbalance between supply and demand. State officials are already struggling to schedule millions of qualified people and set up the infrastructure needed to vaccinate.

Similar stories are being spread across the country, but vaccine distribution is gradually improving in the United States. President Joe Biden said this week that all Americans who want the COVID-19 vaccine should be able to get the vaccine by the end of July, but warned that distribution logistics will continue to be difficult.

In King County, health authorities working on limited supplies are working to deliver vaccines fairly, according to Bogan. “We are focusing on qualified high-risk people who are not related to doctors or healthcare systems and have set a place to reach older people in areas that are overly affected by COVID-19. “She said.

Goldman will be vaccinated for the second time next month. She will drive.

And when all this is done, she wants to accept people again at her home, resume her volunteer work at a nearby arboretum, and embrace her new great-grandchildren she refrained from touching. I will.

So far, she’s making a lot of calls — her long walk has been reported by many local and national media outlets. According to her, attention does not bother her.

“I hope it inspires people to take their shots,” she said. “I think it’s important for the whole country.”