“People with disabilities desperately need the vaccine. But states disagree on when they’ll get it.”

Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology in the Maxwell School, was quoted in The Washington Post story “People with disabilities desperately need the vaccine. But states disagree on when they’ll get it.” Landes, an expert on the sociology of disability, has been researching how COVID 19 has affected the disabled community, finding that those with intellectual and developmental disabilities are anywhere from two to three times more likely to die from the virus. Yet he says that so many people with disabilities are still unable to receive the vaccine. “To me, it’s unconscionable. We know this is a vulnerable health population. We can show they’re not doing well. I just cannot fathom why states are being allowed to not report,” says Landes.