COVID-19 vaccinations administered to
Queens Centers for Progress residents
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 22-JAN. 28, 2021 17
will be able to return to
the in-person activities
they have missed. Families
will be able to visit
their relatives soon and
slowly, life for the more
than 1,200 people QCP
serves daily will return
to something approaching
normal.
Queens Centers
for Progress, now in
its 70th year, operates
group homes in Jackson
Heights, Jamaica Estates,
New Hyde Park and there
are five such homes on its
Bellerose campus.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at
bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
BY BILL PARRY
Residents and staff of
the Queens Centers for
Progress residential program
were among the
first people in the New
York state intellectual
disabilities community
to receive a COVID-19
vaccination on the QCP’s
Bellerose Campus on
Jan. 7.
Queens Centers for
Progress provides person
centered services
and supports to children
and adults who
have developmental
disabilities and many
individuals in its residential
program have
been shut in since last
March due to underlying
health issues and
fears of spreading the
virus further inside the
agency’s group homes.
The first round of
Moderna vaccinations
were delivered successfully,
according to Dr.
Frank Pantina, the pharmacy
supervisor of Total
Care Rx, which administered
the inoculations.
“Beyond successful,”
he said. “We were
booked for 43 immunizations,
but were able to
vaccinate 67 individuals
at the inaugural clinic.”
Queens Centers
for Progress helped to
spearhead the campaign
to make access to the
vaccine for people with
intellectual disabilities
a priority. Ed Weiss,
QCP’s director of Adult
Services, said QCP and
Cerebral Palsy NY State
advocated strongly for
the residents and staff
to be prioritized in the
distribution.
As a result, the state
announced that all individuals
with intellectual
or developmental
disabilities living in
certified residential settings,
and the staff who
support them, would be
included in phase 1A
of the state’s COVID-19
vaccination plan.
The first people to receive
the vaccine were
QCP’s Executive Director
Terri Ross, direct
support professional Nicole
Majett and QCP resident
Robert Dempsey.
“Far too many people
have become sick and
many have passed on
from COVID-19,” Ross
said. “Our QCP family
has lost some very dear
people. Getting vaccinated
is the best way to
protect yourself, your
family and our community.”
Many programs
switched to online delivery,
and continue to
be presented that way.
Now, with the vaccinations
becoming available,
more individuals
A Queens Center for Progress resident receives the
COVID-19 pandemic at the agency’s Bellerose campus.
Photo courtesy of QCP
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