Vaccines, Society, and the Progress We Haven't Made

 Hi y'all!

Happy new year!  I know it's been ages since I posted.  It's hard to stay motivated during remote learning, ya know?

I was reading the newspaper yesterday and I saw an article about the new COVID-19 vaccine.  Super exciting, right?  I'm so excited to be able to leave my house again.  It's been a loooong year, and everyone in my family is eager to get the vaccine and start returning to normal life.

In Illinois (and most other states), the vaccine is given to people in phases.  According to the article that caught my eye yesterday, phase 1a consists of healthcare workers, phase 1b consists of seniors and essential workers, and 1c is - and I quote - "people with medical conditions that make them high risk, like cancer and diabetes."

So.  Yeah.  Great, right?

Not so fast.  I've been living with T1D for almost 11 years, so I know this drill pretty well.  See, here's the thing - since 95% of diabetes cases are T2D, lots of folks kinda just forget that the rest of us exist.  "Diabetes" becomes synonymous with T2D, and folks with T1 are left to do our own research and figure out whether the topic in question applies to us or not.

Research time!  Flipping over this particular rock reveals a whole mess.  Long story short, because people with T1D are so often forgotten, there's no standard procedure for where we belong in the vaccine phases.  Some states specify that Type 2 Diabetes falls under phase 1c, but don't mention T1 anywhere.  Other states just say "diabetes."  A few just say "high-risk conditions," leaving folks with T1 confused as to whether we count because we don't fall under the usual list of comorbidities, but we're still at a higher risk of COVID complications.

Thanks to pushback from the DOC, a couple states (2, to be exact, plus Washington, DC) have modified their lists to include T1D in phase 1c.  But the rest of us are left in confusion, with very few resources.  Even my endocrinologist doesn't know whether I'll be able to register for 1c or not.

And the worst part is, I'm used to this.  Most of us are.  Every PWD knows the feeling of hearing "this diet prevents diabetes" or "take this medication to get rid of your diabetes."  We've all had people say "oh yeah, my grandma/cat/some random person I met once has diabetes" and then assume they know everything about our condition.  Even TV ads for T2D medication don't always specify that they're only meant for T2... which is why we so often end up hearing people say "You have diabetes?? You should take this pill! I saw it on TV!"

If y'all have been following my blog, you know that T1D and T2D are completely different.  (And if you haven't, I suggest you go check out my other posts, because you're probably pretty confused right now!)  So when people assume they understand our condition just because they have some experience with T2, the results can range from annoying to downright harmful.  Society's consistent refusal to differentiate between the two types results in stigma, reduced quality of care, and - in cases like the vaccine list - potential danger when we're denied access to a lifesaving vaccine for a virus that poses a higher risk for us.

So, bottom line: We have a lot of work left to do.  As long as misconceptions and misinformation about T1D remain commonplace, we will continue to encounter issues like this one.  Folks with T1 are usually happy to answer questions from people willing to learn, but correcting people who confidently preach wrong ideas gets exhausting.  Do your research, please, y'all.  And to all my fellows PWDs - stay safe and stay strong.  Love you all!