Manhattan lawmaker launches resource to help
New Yorkers make COVID-19 vaccination appointments
BY HANNAH MALLARD
A New York City senator announced
on March 16 that he had
successfully helped over 1,000
constituents schedule COVID-19 vaccine
appointments.
State Senator Brad Hoylman launched
a “Vaccine Appointment Help Center” on
Feb. 27 after hearing numerous reports
about the difficult scheduling process for
COVID-19 inoculations in New York.
Since then, Senator Hoylman and his
staff have helped 1,370 constituents schedule
vaccine appointments at pharmacies,
hospitals and mass vaccination sites with
the assistance of TurboVax.
“Helping constituents schedule vaccine
appointments is some of the most rewarding
work I’ve done since I became a New
York State Senator,” said Senator Hoylman.
This help center has brought great relief
in the form of a COVID-19 inoculation to
many New Yorkers, especially seniors who
have limited access to technology or trouble
operating vaccine appointment websites.
“Many of my constituents struggled with
the confusing online sign-up process, a lack
of Manhattan-specific mass vaccination
sites and the limited supply of vaccines,”
Senator Hoylman continued. “I couldn’t
be prouder of my team, who worked
around-the-clock to enable us to surpass
our milestone 1,000 successful COVID-19
vaccine appointment,” he said.
Senator Hoylman also brought a popup
inoculation site to NYCHA’s (New
York City Housing Authority’s) Pedro
Albizu Campos Plaza Community Center
on March 13 along with other locations in
his Senate district.
Residents of Senate District 27 can
request help from Senator Hoylman’s
“Vaccine Appointment Help Center”
by filling out this form https://bit.ly/
HoylmanHelpCenter.
EDUARDO MUNOZ
A healthcare worker gets vaccinated at the Trinitas Regional Medical Center
in Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S., January 8, 2021.
Subdued St. Patrick’s Day Parade goes
on during pandemic at crack of dawn
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade marched
on in Manhattan early Wednesday,
a shell of its former self amid the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — with few
able to observe it.
Normally an event held midday and
attracting millions of cheery, green-clad
spectators, this year’s march was reduced
to a handful of dignitaries, honorees and
bagpipers. It also took place at the crack of
dawn, while most New Yorkers were still
slumbering in their beds.
It was not a scheduling error; the festivities
were held early, its participants
restricted, to keep the parade from becoming
a superspreader event amid the
pandemic.
The pre-dawn march was incorporated
into a larger, virtual St. Patrick’s Day Parade
held in New York to observe the Feast
of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland,
and celebrate Irish culture in America.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was among the
dignitaries in the subdued march. Hours
later, at his daily press briefing, he spoke of
the parade’s incredible history in America
— pre-dating the founding of the United
States itself — and the importance of
Mayor Bill de Blasio helps lead the abbreviated St. Patrick’s Day Parade on
March 17, 2021.
carrying its tradition forward even amid
the pandemic.
“It’s an amazing tradition and it’s a tradition
that’s been in so many ways stressed
and challenged by the pandemic and yet it
had survived,” de Blasio said. “Very, very
modestly last year and this year a little bit
better and bigger. People could feel that
sense of keeping tradition alive, keeping
the history alive.”
MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY UNIT
While saluting all Irish Americans
across New York and America this St. Patrick’s
Day, de Blasio dedicated this year’s
celebration in the city to Malachy McCourt,
the great Irish poet and humorist. He was
unable to participate in the festivities today
due to injury, the mayor noted.
“Malachy McCourt is someone if you
know him, if you have heard him on the
radio, if you’ve met him and heard his
energy, his brilliance his wit, you do not
forget it. He has an amazing story, born
in Brooklyn but raised in Ireland,” said de
Blasio. “Someone who captured so much of
the Irish American experience but someone
who believed in a society that included
everyone and respected everyone.”
Along with members of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians and the St. Patrick’s
Day Parade Committee, de Blasio also participated
in the annual Mass at St. Patrick’s
Cathedral, celebrated by Timothy Cardinal
Dolan.
“Where better to be if you can’t be in
Dublin than in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on
Fifth Avenue?” Dolan said in his opening
remarks. He preached before a sociallydistanced
congregation that included
members of the Fire Department, Police
Department and the Fighting 69th — all
first responders whom the parade organizers
paid tribute in a special way in this
year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
“We got a good crowd here, not jammed
as usual, but it sure beats last year,” Dolan
added. Last year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration,
as COVID-19 began ramping up in
New York, was completely cancelled —
save for a feast day Mass that Dolan and a
handful of clergy celebrated.
Schneps Media March 18, 2021 3
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