The struggle to distribute vaccines at the federal level has a direct impact on Bay Area residential care facilities, as many residents and their families feel as though they were left behind.
Janice, whose 94-year-old mother is a resident of a care facility, said she struggled to find answers. She said that many seniors are not able to simply pursue vaccinations on their own.
“(My mother) had sepsis in July and ever since then she’s been unable to walk,” Janice said. “She is in a wheelchair.”
Aida Reznik, who heads two residential care facilities in Sonoma County, said she registered for the federal vaccination program through Walgreen’s and CVS in October, and was told that her facilities would be some of the first to receive their doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. But what followed was weeks of phone tag.
Christa Barnett Nelson, senior ombudsman in Sonoma County, said Reznik is not alone in her frustration.
“The magnitude of this was not accurately portrayed because this is not going well,” Nelson said.
Nelson added that L.A. County chose to opt out of the federal program entirely.
“They said ‘no way, this is taking too long. We’ll do our own,’” Nelson said.
Of the thousands of residential care facilities in California, only a little more than 400 have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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