Pols push for senior vax plan
BY ROSE ADAMS
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration
has vowed to create
a plan to vaccinate homebound
seniors after a push
from two southern Brooklyn
lawmakers, according to a representative
for Councilmember
Mark Treyger.
“Here we are, facing a
global pandemic, with thousands
of New Yorkers who
have lost their lives,” said
Treyger, who represents Coney
Island, Bensonhurst, and
Gravesend, in late January.
“We still don’t have a comprehensive
and cohesive plan to
vaccinate homebound seniors
or even an adequate plan to
vaccinate seniors in general.”
Though the city already
offers free transportation for
seniors to vaccine sites, the
lawmakers argued that an athome
vaccination effort would
speed up herd immunization
in Brooklyn, which houses the
largest population of seniors
in the state.
New York residents over the
age of 65 have been eligible to
receive the COVID-19 vaccine
since Jan. 12, but only 214,000
seniors have been inoculated
so far, according to city data.
The slow rollout has mostly
been caused by the city’s vaccine
COURIER L 12 IFE, FEBRUARY 5-11, 2021
shortage, although locals
have also blamed the disparity
on the Health Department’s
confusing scheduling system.
One Bensonhurst resident
says many seniors have struggled
to make appointments online,
and that the insuffi cient
translation services have
made it diffi cult for Chinese
locals to get the information
they need.
“A lot of seniors in our
neighborhood can’t speak
English at all and they don’t
know how to use a computer,”
said Dr. Tim Law, a member
of Bensonhurst’s Community
Board 11. “They want to take
the vaccine — they want to do
it, but they cannot do it.”
To make matters worse,
vaccine shortages have forced
vaccination hubs to close and
open seemingly at random,
confusing residents and even
the Health Department.
On Jan. 30, a new vaccination
site at Lincoln High
School in Coney Island sat
empty because appointments
were not made available online,
even though plenty of
doses were on the site.
New Yorkers who heard
about the snafu traveled to
Lincoln and got vaccinated
without an appointment. The
incident wasn’t the fi rst time
seniors relied on social media
to get the vaccine — last
month, New Yorkers traveled
to the Brooklyn Army Terminal
after hearing that workers
were giving out surplus doses
to walk-in patients.
To ease the vaccine’s rollout,
Treyger and southern
Brooklyn state Sen. Diane
Savino are asking the city
to partner with more senior
providers who could provide
transportation to vaccination
sites and create senior-only
hours at the city-run centers.
“We know the most vulnerable
among us is our senior
citizen population and as community
leaders we must do our
part to ensure that we develop
a comprehensive plan to get
them vaccinated, including
those that are homebound,”
said Savino.
Since the lawmakers’ calls,
the de Blasio administration
has formed a task force to look
into the issue, but has not yet
fi nalized a plan, according to
Maria Henderson, a spokeswoman
for Councilmember
Treyger.
A rep with the Department
had not heard about the plan
or the task force as of Feb. 3,
but said that the city’s biggest
obstacle is currently the dwindling
number of vaccines.
“The single greatest challenge
to vaccinating eligible
New Yorkers is a lack of supply,”
said Patrick Donahue.
“Our capacity to distribute is
much greater than our supply
of vaccine. The limited doses
we have will be exhausted by
the end of the weekend.”
A man receives the vaccine at the Javits Center. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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