Elderly couples struggle to get COVID-19 vaccine same time

Reporter: Sydney Persing Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Audrey and veteran Bill Heck sit together in their home of 35 years. Bill was able to get vaccinated through the VA, but Audrey has struggled to get the vaccine like many other elderly spouses. Credit: WINK News.

Elderly couples are struggling to get a vaccinated for the coronavirus at the same time. It’s an issue we continue to see for veterans in our area. Those who served can get a vaccines through the VA, but their spouses must find vaccines elsewhere.

We met Audrey and veteran Bill Heck at the home they’ve shared for the last 35 years. Audrey is a homemaker in the truest sense of the word. Bill served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Bill received the coronavirus vaccine and is desperate to get his wife one too. The Navy veteran has certainly lived one heck of a life at 100 years old.

“I was in the Navy. was a pilot,” Bill said. “I’ve seen people die, things like that. Yes.”

He’s lived a lot of life too, highlighted by the love of his life, and Bill is not ready to lose her.

“I don’t want her to catch this disease and die,” Bill said. “She’s 85; remember. She falls in the age group. I’d like her to stick around a while.”

While Bill received his first dose through the VA, most spouses of veterans are ineligible to receive their does that way too.

Meanwhile, Audrey runs the errands, picks up their medications and then fights like so many others to secure a dose through Publix, County phone lines or Eventbrite to get an appointment.

“I go out in the morning. I avoid crowds, then to come back and try to get online, it’s just very, very frustrating,” Audrey said. “I’m to the point of tears most of the time because he keeps after me, ‘Have you done this? Have you done that?” But I have; I’m just not successful.”

A shot won’t come in time for the date these lovebirds deserve, unfortunately.

“Our anniversary is on the fourteenth of February,” Audrey said.

“Go out for dinner, obviously, and just celebrate the anniversary,” Bill said. “I’ve done nothing but sit here for the last, at least ten months.”

Like her husband, Audrey is a fighter, and she keeps her eyes on the prize.

“Audrey wants to take a cruise, which is impossible now,” Bill said.

The couple recognizes supplies are limited at this time, both at the VA and within each county. But they do wish like many others the state would prioritize. Those in their 80s, 90s and 100s before those in their 60s and 70s.

“From what I understand, you have to keep on it and keep perseverance,” Audrey said.

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