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ALSO COVERING AUBURNDALE, COLLEGE POINT, DOUGLASTON, GLEN OAKS, FLORAL PARK
• LITTLE NECK LEDGER
• WHITESTONE TIMES
Feb. 12-Feb. 18, 2021
‘SIMPLY DISCRIMINATORY’
City Council candidates and lawmakers say NE Queens still lacks COVID-19 vaccination sites
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Nearly a month after lawmakers
authored a letter demanding COVID-19
vaccination sites in northeast Queens,
other members of the community are
continuing to push for sites, citing the
needs of the area’s larger-than-average
senior population.
The letter, which was sent to Mayor
Bill de Blasio on Jan. 12, complained that
the “vaccination desert” did not have
any sites “east of Union Street, Flushing
or north of 82nd Road in Jamaica.” Despite
persistent community demands,
City Council candidates in District 23
say that northeast Queens still lacks
accessible sites a week into February.
“District 23 has a larger senior community
than the rest of New York City
and the current difficulty in seniors’
ability to be vaccinated is simply not acceptable,”
said City Council candidate
Debra Markell.
According to the city’s vaccine finder,
the closest locations to get inoculated
are in Flushing, forcing seniors to travel
out of their neighborhoods like Bay
Terrace, Bayside, Little Neck and
Douglaston.
Some leaders in the community
have come up with workarounds for
this issue, including free senior transportation
to vaccination appointments
outside of northeast Queens. But other
glaring issues remain, including registration
difficulties for individuals who
may be less tech savvy.
“This dependence on making an appointment
online where seniors are not
Northeast Queens lawmakers held a press conference at the Commonpoint Queens
Sam Field Center in Little Neck demanding the city establish COVID-19 vaccination
sites for the area. Photo courtesy of Rozic’s offi ce
tech-savvy, among the very community
is most in need of the vaccine, is completely
unfair and is, in my opinion, simply
discriminatory,” Markell said.
Linda Lee, another District 23 candidate
and an Oakland Gardens resident,
said that the state is “exploring” the possibility
of using existing centers like the
Korean Community Services building
in Bayside, as a viable vaccination site.
And on Tuesday, Feb. 9, Governor
Cuomo’s office announced that, beginning
Thursday, Feb. 11, Korean Community
Services in Bayside will become
a pop-up vaccination site. NYCHA Shelton
Houses in Jamaica and the Sikh Cultural
Society in South Richmond, along
with Korean Community Services, will
provide eligible Queens residents with
the COVID-19 vaccines.
At a Feb. 8 press conference in front
of the Commonpoint Queens Sam Field
Center, northeast Queens elected officials
led by Assembly members Nily Rozic
and Ed Braunstein and Councilmen
Paul Vallone and Peter Koo, demanded
that the city come up with a permanent
vaccine location for area residents.
“Once again, the city has forgotten
about northeast Queens,” said Rozic.
“We understand the vaccine shortage
has created logistical hurdles, but we
cannot leave any communities behind
when supply is eventually replenished
and distributed. The city should
have identified appropriate locations
that could serve as vaccination sites
months ago so our communities are
not overlooked. The expectation that
seniors must travel long distances
for the chance of immunization is
unacceptable.”
Community Board 11 Chair Michael
Budabin said that they made efforts to
contact NYC COVID-19 Vaccine Command
and said that “they have been
responsive and understanding of our
situation.”
“We are aware that it is hard to open
new vaccination sites without a reliable
influx of doses from the Federal government.
However, it is the strong belief of
our Health and Human Services Committee
that logistical planning should
be implemented now to ensure a vaccination
site is fully prepared to open in
Community Board 11, Queens immediately
upon the availability of adequate
and consistent delivery of vaccine doses.
We stand willing and able to volunteer
to help find sites that are compliant
with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) and large enough to serve our
neighborhoods,” Budabin said.
Vol. 87 No. 7 32 total pages
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