BOSTON Gloria Clark of Malden, Mass., woke up on Thursday with one goal and one goal only: to find herself an unvaccinated person over the age of 75.
She started with an ad on Craigslist, but responses were sluggish, so she started knocking on doors. The 89-year-old two doors down was not interested. An 80-year-old neighbor was not home, and typically napped in the afternoon, but Ms. Clark was undaunted.
“I’ll catch her tomorrow morning,” said Ms. Clark, 72, a retired high school math teacher. “I’ll find someone. I know I will.”
This week, Massachusetts began an experiment, offering vaccinations to those who accompany people who are 75 and older to mass vaccination sites.
Covid Vaccines as an Amenity
Senior living communities around the country are offering vaccine access as an incentive for moving in.
Atria West 86, on the Upper West Side, is one of the senior living communities around the country offering early access to the Covid-19 vaccine to new residents.Credit.Katherine Marks for The New York Times
Feb. 11, 2021
Apartments at Atria West 86, a senior living community on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, start at $6,100 a month, with amenities that include a rooftop terrace, an in-house salon, town car service, and chef-prepared meals.
In a promotional email last month, the development added another feature: sign a lease within the next 10 days and get the Covid-19 vaccine in February.
“There is a lot of wavering,” said Odile Essombé-Missé, 79, who was standing in line at the vaccination center in Pontoise for her 85-year-old husband’s injection. Asked about a new lockdown, she just shrugged.
“We put up with it,” she said finally, with her eyeglasses, perched atop a colorful blue and orange face mask, fogged over.
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Polls before the vaccine rollout suggested a strong reluctance to get vaccinated in France, now, though, enthusiasm has increased. Credit.Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
Mr. Macron has vowed that all adults who want to get vaccines would be offered them by summer’s end.
Coronavirus numbers have plateaued despite months of economically damaging restrictions, and vaccinations still lag behind other European countries, leaving many French with an uneasy feeling of being stuck.