Seniors wanting to sign up for the vaccine are having difficulties with the technology required to book an appointment. Understanding the internet can be unfamiliar and daunting, made even worse with the confusing registration websites, text alerts, and email notifications.
I hadn't realized the technological disadvantage for elderly. My grandma was able to sign up for the vaccine with the help of my aunt, but I forgot that not everyone has access to someone who can readily help. A lot of elderly live on their own, and are not in close contact with family members in order to stay safe. I think outreach to the elderly could be made better if there were organizations with young volunteers who would make house calls to these seniors to walk them through the process of booking an appointment. I also think that when younger individuals can get vaccinated, there will be more in-person outreach and solutions.
Did you know that this was an issue? What are some ways you think this problem could be solved?
I didn't realize that this was an issue until my grandparents who live in Texas wanted to get their vaccines but didn't know how to because of how technology-based the whole process was - I was told to sign up for them on the website, and even for me, because their systems were so messy, the process was pretty confusing. In the case of my other grandma, who lives around here, she took it upon herself to just call her healthcare provider's office and book herself an appointment - I think that this is a really great solution to not being able to navigate technology, as seniors are comfortable with booking appointments by phone. Having volunteers walk door to door to make appointments might also be an option, but that also makes it easier for possible scammers to steal elderly people's information, by posing as these said door-to-door volunteers and tricking them (I saw a news segment about this happening a few days ago).
ReplyDeleteBooking appointments by phone is a great idea. I definitely agree with you that door-to-door volunteers don't always have good intentions and that scammers are a huge deal these days. I didn't see that specific news segment that you saw, but I feel like I hear about this happening often these days to those who are vulnerable (in-person as well as virtually).
DeleteI actually didn't think about this as an issue until reading this post. I know my mom signed my grandpa up for getting a vaccination but didn't give it much thought for other seniors. Of course some seniors will be able to understand and use the internet fairly easily, but there will always be some who don't. It's definitely harder to spread the word and offer help with in-person contact being so limited, but perhaps advertising/asking those who do use the internet regularly to help spread the word to their older relatives could be a good way of helping seniors. Having healthcare providers reach out and call homes could also help people get appointments for vaccination, but there is also the risk of scammers like Lauren said.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there is a wide range of senior internet capability and access, and I like your thinking of advertisements, maybe even commercials on tv that have a direct hotline or website that can help with instructions to book an appointment. Your other idea of having healthcare providers reaching out to people in order to secure appointments is a good idea as well, or maybe even advertisements that tell elderly to call their healthcare provider if they are having trouble booking an appointment. While call wait times might be long, I feel like it's better than scouring the internet for quickly disappearing appointment slots on hard to navigate websites.
DeleteI realized that this was a problem but I didn't realize how widespread it was. Like Lauren said, I think phone calls are a great way to book appointments and can be less difficult for seniors who struggle with technology. Another method that could possibly help is setting up appointment scheduling sites at community or senior centers and these appointment sites would have to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines. If seniors have a safe place that they can go where they can get help from younger volunteers to schedule their COVID-19 vaccine appointments, that would be really great. But, these sites would unfortunately only really be available for seniors who are comfortable leaving their homes at this time. Any of these options need to have volunteers that can speak a couple of different languages so that no matter what language a senior speaks, they can still get the help they need.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to other people I didn't really see this problem until I read about this. I would imagine most responsible adults to be be care takers for their parents, but I understand the difficulty created by distance. I agree with Elizabeth and Lauren that possible solutions could be phone calls, scheduling sites at senior centers under guidelines. It's troublesome because the elderly are most vulnerable to COVID and its ideal to have as less expose as possible. Despite being inconvenient, I hope people can find some time out their life and just help their family or friend get vaccinated, the overall long term benefit would definitely out weights this inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely did understand that this was an issue because I myself was struggling with figuring out the most efficient way to sign up for a vaccine. I'm a little out of touch with it because all of my grandparents live in India I don't have to use the same vaccine sign up system that the United States does. Therefore I did not have first-hand experience with helping elderlyGain access to getting a vaccine but I can imagine that this was a great issue. Part of the issue is that there is not a uniform method for getting the vaccine as multiple websites and pharmacies have there alternate methods of signing up. One key way this problem can be solved is through automatic appointments but I created and then earlier notified or even simple voice activated vaccine apps.
ReplyDeletePersonally, my grandparents did not have trouble signing up for a vaccine so I was unaware of this issue. However, I can imagine this could be a large issue as I am familiar with the idea that seniors don't exactly have the technological skills to book online appointments, especially with the low accessability for the COVID appointments. In my experience, signing up for a vaccine was very hard to do and it required a lot of checking on websites. In order to fix this problem, I believe healthcare providers should reach out to elders over the phone, and that they should do bookings for them. There was already a time for elders to acquire the vaccine, so especially now, people over 70 that are unvaccinated should be signed up by healthcare providers if they consent to getting the vaccine.
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