These Kent women wanted Covid vaccines but leaving home was too hard

Connie Palmer, 84, lives at a housing development in Kent, where she is usually confined to her bed.

On Monday, May 24, Palmer got her second dose of the Covid vaccine. She moved to a chair in the living room for the shot, which was difficult for her.

Palmer’s husband of almost 55 years, Steve, is her caregiver. He said he got his vaccine doses back in February and March, but he couldn’t get Connie to a vaccine clinic, “because it’s so hard for her to get out.”

“I have to get her up and get her into a wheelchair,” he said. “Then having to wait for Access, which is a half hour to an hour, and then getting to the place where she would get a shot is just really uncomfortable for her.”

So the firefighters came to her instead.

In King County, people who are homebound — and their family members and caregivers — can get the Covid vaccine without stepping foot outside their homes. So far, the county’s mobile vaccination units have served about 4,000 people. Some of those were homebound individuals and their families and caregivers; others live in group homes.

For their last stop of the day, the firefighters in Kent headed to the apartment shared by Jonell — she asked us not to use her last name — and her little dog, Scripture.

Jonell said she initially planned to get her vaccine at a clinic, and she even had an appointment scheduled.

But, she said, “I couldn't get there because of the level of pain I'm in, and the way I breathe.”

“It’s better here [at home]; it’s safer,” she said. “I'm very touched, because they're going out of their way to make sure that I live.”

The mobile vaccine units are wrapping up in-home vaccinations now. They plan to go to schools next.