Are Wyomingites with developmental disabilities getting vaccinated against COVID- 9? We don’t know, but the University of Wyoming’s Institute for Disabilities is looking into it.
They want to know why someone with a disability would receive the vaccine or not.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) those with disabilities might be more at risk to become infected with COVID-19 due to underlying medical conditions, communal living situations, and healthcare inequalities. But data on Wyomgites with disabilities is scarce.
Eric Moody, Associate Director of the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, said preliminary research indicates there might be fear of the vaccine.
“The healthcare system treats them with a lot of paternalism. So it does things to them, rather than working with them to figure out what they want. And so I think there's still a lot of lingering fear about that,” he said.
Moody said that the testimonials of care takers and relatives of the disabled are collected in studies like this, often ignoring first hand accounts of those with the disabilities.
He said although there is little data on the subject, people with disabilities are a vulnerable population and it's odd to know so little.
“Given how significant the health disparities are, for this community, it's sort of shocking to me that there aren't more data available to try to figure out what's going on. But unfortunately, it's pretty common,” said Moody.
The University of Montana published a similar study in 2021 which found those with disabilities were hesitant to receive the vaccine. That study accounted for political party and rural location of the respondent, both big factors if the person chose to be vaccinated or not. Around 1 in 4 adults have a disability in Wyoming.
