COVID-19, Harris dominate
Caribbean community in 2020
By Nelson A. King
With the closing of 2020, two
issues have, by far, particularly
dominated Caribbean nationals
in the Diaspora.
The ongoing coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic and the
historic election of Caribbean
American Kamala Harris, as US
Vice President-elect, have had
and continue to have implications
for the community.
As many in the global community,
including the Caribbean
community in New York, express
fear, reluctance or hesitance
about taking the COVID-19 vaccine,
some Caribbean-born physicians
urged community members
to take the vaccine when it
becomes available.
“It’s important that people
take the vaccine,” said Dr. Yolande
Thomas-Badal, a Trinidadianborn
internist and Emergency
Room physician at Interfaith
Medical Center in the Bedford-
Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn,
who took the COVID-19 vaccine
at her hospital two Fridays ago.
“The vaccine is our first best
defense from contracting COVID-
19,” added Dr. Thomas-Badal,
stating that she took the vaccine,
because it “offers protection.
“You have to think of the other
people who you’re around,” Dr.
Thomas-Badal added. “Being on
the frontline and seeing patients
NYC, masks and
social distancing
are working!
WHAT’S NEXT
IN THE COVID-19 FIGHT?
Caribbean L 18 ife, JANUARY 8-14, 2021
with coronavirus; and, if there’s
anything to help me to prevent
coronavirus, I’ll do it.”
Dr. Clifford Young — a Vincentian
born attending physician
at Woodhull Medical Center
in Bedford-Stuyvesant and SUNY
Downstate Medical Center and
University Hospital in Central
Brooklyn, in the heart of the Caribbean
community in Brooklyn
— said that, while “Black people
in this country are fearful of this
vaccine, this vaccine is safe.
“I look at the data, and the
vaccine is safe,” he accentuated.
“Caribbean people and Blacks
should take the vaccine.
“We have the most morbidity
and mortality; so, we should
take it (vaccine),” said Dr. Young,
who also has a private medical
practice in the Canarsie section
of Brooklyn. “We suffer the most,
we’re are an at risk-population,
and we should be at the head of
the line.
“Should we be fearful of the
vaccine? And the answer is ‘no,’”
Dr. Young said. “When my turn
comes, I’ll take it.”
U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris campaigns with
Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael
Warnock ahead of runoff elections in Savanah, Georgia,
U.S. Jan. 3, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Several leading Caribbean
artists will perform virtually in
a major inauguration party for
Caribbean American Vice President
elect Kamala Harris.
According to Invest Caribbean
– which claims to be “the
number one global private sector,
investment agency of the
Caribbean” – it has initiated the
Caribbean American Action Network
(CAAN), a collective of Caribbean
American and Caribbean
organizations, to present “a live,
virtual, Caribbean inauguration
party under the theme, ‘Celebrating
#CaribbeanAmerican-
Kamala.’”
Invest Caribbean said on Friday
that, on Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Weekend, Jan. 17, 2021,
there will be “an impressive gathering
in cyberspace with some
of the Caribbean’s most notable
artistes, dignitaries, and organizations
globally to mark another
dynamic moment in history –
the pending swearing in of Harris
as the first Black and female,
Caribbean-American US vicepresident
at the 59th Presidential
inauguration.
An employee shows the
Moderna coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) vaccine at
Northwell Health’s Long Island
Jewish Valley Stream
hospital in New York, U.S.,
Dec. 21, 2020. REUTERS/
Eduardo Munoz/File
NOW, WE ALL NEED TO GET TESTED OFTEN,
even with no symptoms, to keep reducing the spread.
TO FIND EASY AND SAFE TESTING AT NO COST TO YOU,
VISIT NYC.GOV/COVIDTEST OR
CALL 212-COVID19
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