As Covid surges in the US, Americans can't get vaccinated: terrified I might kill somebody'

"The agency authorized Covid vaccines for people 65 and older, who are known to be more at risk from serious illnesses from Covid infections, but younger people will only be eligible if they have an underlying medical condition that makes them particularly vulnerable. With this upcoming fall and winter the first where the US government hasn't recommended widespread Covid vaccinations these changes have introduced a creeping sense for many that their ageing or immunocompromised loved ones are in danger."

"For Madison Heckle, a 33-year-old attorney in the final stretch of wedding planning, the stakes feel personal. She has struggled with frequent illness ever since first contracting Covid in 2021. Ever since then, I just catch everything, she said. Though she expressed her frustrations with a weakened immune system, she had her doubts that she would qualify for vaccine coverage under the new guidelines."

"Her immediate worry is simple: not being bedridden on the day she says I do. Weddings are expensive, and I don't want to be sick that day if I can prevent it, and so I just want to get the vaccine, she said. I've gotten my booster every year. Yet the new rules have complicated what was once routine. Instead of stopping by CVS, as she has in past years, Heckle found herself on the phone with her insurer,"

The FDA authorized Covid vaccines for people 65 and older while limiting eligibility for younger people to those with underlying medical conditions, under new guidelines associated with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and the MAHA movement. The upcoming fall and winter marks the first season without a government recommendation for widespread Covid vaccination, contributing to anxiety about ageing and immunocompromised relatives. Individuals report disrupted routines, insurance and pharmacy complications, and worry about missing important events due to illness. The changes have intensified perceptions of an increasingly inaccessible healthcare system and uneven vaccine access.

Read at www.theguardian.com