By: Bethany O’Meara & Samantha Montano
We met in first grade playing soccer in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Decades later we’re still best friends. For most of our lives things progressed similarly, we grew up together, went off to college, and began our adult lives. Then, Bethany became disabled from illness.
Samantha is now a disaster researcher who studies emergency management- most recently, the response to the pandemic. Last March, Samantha started teaching college courses online and moved back to Maine. As the catastrophe spread, she worried about the country’s ability to respond and about Bethany’s safety, because in the middle of a crisis we’re not all affected equally.
Bethany had to face the pandemic by isolating at home to avoid getting dangerously sick and dying. She has debilitating symptoms from Lupus, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), dysautonomia, and more. She also deals with asthma and gets frequent lung infections. Being immunocompromised makes her much more vulnerable to COVID-19 than healthy people our age. With her complex neuroimmune illnesses she could end up permanently worse off from even a mild COVID-19 infection.
Given the history of inequality in disaster responses, Samantha worried that high-risk lives like Bethany, especially the young, would be overlooked. In a crisis, certain needs are prioritized, and the pandemic is no exception. Decisions have been made about who can work from home and who must risk their health to go to work. Some hospitals even rationed care when COVID-19 patients overwhelmed resources. These decisions have often been ableist like instances of disabled people being pressured to sign DNRs against their wishes.
Maine’s vaccination plan originally aligned with guidelines from the CDC that recommended the elderly and people at high risk be prioritized. But recently Governor Mills announced we would change course.
Instead of the plan that prioritized high-risk people, Maine will now use age to determine which month you get vaccinated. Originally, Bethany expected to be vaccinated by April, but in the new approach she will be vaccinated in June, putting her in the same category as Samantha, who has no chronic illnesses. A few months' wait may not seem like much, but for those at high risk every day of waiting for a vaccine is another fearful day of missing important medical services. As a result of this change, healthy people will be vaccinated before thousands of younger high-risk Mainers, leaving them vulnerable to new dangerous strains of COVID-19, and extending their isolation by months.
While the state has kept Maine open for students, businesses, and tourists- high risk people have had to give up the most important parts of their lives. The only time Bethany leaves home is for vital doctor’s appointments. She had to give up in-person medical treatments that help her manage pain and dizziness.
The data used to justify these changes must be interpreted through a lens of social justice or it is a failure in fair governance. Science doesn’t have a moral compass, but public health policy must.
The new approach is unjust, and harkens back to last summer when it was found Maine had the greatest COVID racial disparity in the country. This impacts thousands of Mainers- those with cancer, those with chronic conditions, and even frontline workers. A just vaccine distribution approach would mean the people with the greatest risk go first.
As Mainers, we have often been proud to watch Governor Mills and Dr. Shah make rational decisions to keep the majority of Mainers safe and lead us through this catastrophe, with little federal leadership. Governor Mills has pledged to “protect Maine’s most vulnerable people,” but this change leaves many of our state’s most vulnerable residents at continued risk.
Taking an age-based approach without considering intersecting vulnerabilities would be a lasting stain on Maine’s pandemic response. It equates Samantha and Bethany’s risk when they couldn’t be more different. We must demand disability and racial justice be integrated into vaccine distribution. Lives depend on it.