Eric Peebles has spastic cerebral palsy from oxygen deprivation at birth and is functionally quadriplegic. He gets around in a powered wheelchair and needs help with essential tasks like bathing and dressing.
Peebles doesn’t want to live in a nursing home at age 39, and for that reason, he is not yet eligible for a vaccine.
“I have a known underlying medical condition, and I’m still standing in the breadline wanting to get punched in the arm,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
This week Alabama expanded vaccine eligibility to people 65 and older, teachers, and some essential workers. But disability advocates in Alabama are speaking out over worries that some of the state’s most vulnerable residents are at the back of the line for COVID-19 vaccines.
“I know I speak for every elected leader throughout the state when I say we all owe the people of Alabama a debt of gratitude for their willingness to work with us as we have navigated one of the most challenging years in our state’s history,” Ivey said. “Make no mistake, this time last year things were different, much different.”
The governor made few major proposals outside the pay raise, which she said was a way of expressing thanks for the dedication of educators and state employees during the pandemic. The teacher pay raise would cost $88 million; the state employee pay raise would cost about $13 million. Legislators have not ruled raises out. But with modest growth expected in the budgets, the proposals will have to compete with other ones, including investments in early math and reading programs.
Gov. Kay Ivey proposes teacher, state employee pay raises; defends prison plan
The Montgomery Advertiser 2/3/2021 Brian Lyman, Montgomery Advertiser
Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday called for a 2% pay raise for teachers and state employees in a State of the State address that set goals for 2021 under the long shadow of 2020.
The COVID pandemic was evident in the text of the 25-minute speech, in which the governor reviewed her administration’s response; in a more modest agenda than one outlined last year, and in the setting. Traditionally delivered in the Old House Chamber of the Alabama State Capitol, Ivey gave her speech Tuesday via a live-streamed video, out of public health concerns.
Gorilla recovery, hydroxychloroquine return, prison problems: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Montgomery: Officials said Tuesday that the state will see a slight increase, about 16%, in COVID-19 vaccine doses coming in federal shipments, but the ongoing shortage remains the chief obstacle to getting more people inoculated. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the U.S. is boosting deliveries to hard-pressed states over the next three weeks to increase vaccinations. “I’m pleased that Alabama will receive a slight increase in our vaccine supply. Any margin of increase is appreciated, but we have a long way to go to be able to provide them to any Alabamian who wants one,” Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday. State Health Officer Scott Harris said Alabama will receive an additional 10,000 first doses in its upcoming delivery. The state had been receiving about 50,000 to 60,000 first doses each week but will s