Health
By Rose Adams
Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced on Feb. 12 a threepart
plan to protect homebound
seniors from COVID-19
— including setting up vaccine
clinics around the Five
Boroughs specifically designated
for the elderly, inoculating
home health aides, and taking
steps toward bringing the vaccine
into the homes of older
New Yorkers next month.
“We are moving heaven and
earth to get our senior neighbors
vaccinated,” Hizzoner
said at a press conference in
Sheepshead Bay. “We have to do
this urgently. We cannot leave
any of our seniors behind, and
our homebound seniors are
amongst the most vulnerable
people in New York City — so,
it’s gonna be harder to reach
them, but we will reach them.”
With the arrival of the Johnson
& Johnson vaccine —
which requires only one dose
— sometime in March, the
city will organize an effort for
healthcare workers to travel to
the homes of seniors who are
unable to leave due to physical
ailments.
“One shot only, that will be a
blessing,” de Blasio said.
Until then, de Blasio said that
medical personnel who care
for homebound seniors will be
given priority at city-run vaccine
clinics, which will help
ensure that they do not bring
the virus into vulnerable New
Yorkers’ homes.
“To protect seniors who have
to stay at home over the course
of a month, we will vaccinate
25,000 home health aides who
are the lifeline for our homebound
seniors,” the mayor
said.
On top of those plans, the
city will also establish dedicated
clinics at retirement communities
and senior living facilities
around the city — starting on
Feb. 15 with the Warbasse Cares
Program facility in Brighton
Beach, and the Morningside
Retirement & Health Services
complex in Manhattan.
“We’ll reach them right
there,” de Blasio said. “These
will be the beginning of a much
bigger effort to reach homebound
seniors in their own
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday unveiled a three-point plan to
inoculate the city’s homebound seniors. Photo by Dean Moses
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buildings.”
Over the coming weeks, the
city will work to identify more
sites where large elderly populations
live.
The announcement comes
weeks after southern Brooklyn
Councilmember Mark Treyger
and state Sen. Diane Savino
first urged the city to devise a
plan to vaccinate homebound
seniors, arguing that the vulnerable
elders were getting left
behind in the vaccine effort.
“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.”
Now, the new plan aims to
reduce the hurdles for seniors
— who are among the most
vulnerable to hospitalization
and death from the virus.
Home delivery!
Mayor Bill de Blasio unveils plan to
vaccinate homebound seniors