24 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 11, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Story: Maspeth High School social worker helps
seniors complete online registration for COVID-19
vaccine
Summary: Maspeth High School social worker
Justin Spiro provided his assistance in helping the
elderly register for the COVID-19 vaccine, given that
the online platform can be diffi cult to navigate.
Reach: 7,915 (as of 02/08/21)
Finding footing
Everything is riding on the COVID-
19 vaccine — the serum looked upon as
the necessity toward bringing life back to
what used to be called ordinary.
It didn’t take very long aft er the initial
rollout of the vaccine, in December,
before the snags surfaced. First, too
many shots but not enough people getting
them. Th en, as the eligibility criteria
widened, there weren’t enough shots
to go around.
Th e federal government, under the former
president, promised a lot, but delivered
little when it came toward vaccine
distribution. Under new management,
however, things appear to be making a
turn for the better — if ever so slowly.
More vaccines are coming to New
York, though a far cry to meet the
demand here. Th e state’s getting 300,000
doses over the next three weeks, and tens
of thousands of them are going to the
new vaccine hub that opened at Yankee
Stadium in the Bronx and Citi Field in
Queens.
Restaurant workers are also able to
get the vaccine now under a change of
priority made aft er Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s faux pas last week, when he initially
dismissed the idea because there
weren’t enough shots to go around. Now
that the additional shots are coming,
Cuomo said, the restaurant workers can
get their shots.
Work is also underway to address the
startling disparity in who’s getting the
vaccine, as the city reported earlier this
week that not enough Black and Latino
New Yorkers are getting access to the lifesaving
shot.
Th e city and state are opening additional
vaccine hubs in communities of
color, operated by SOMOS Community
Care, the nonprofi t team of physicians,
nurses and other healthcare workers
directly serving the Latino community.
Th e pieces of the puzzle are coming
together. Now New York really needs the
federal government to deliver the knockout
blow to COVID-19.
Th at can happen with the emergency
FDA approval of the one-shot Johnson
& Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, due in
mid-February. Th e Biden administration
should also champion emergency regulation
changes that allow other American
pharmaceutical companies the ability to
produce the Pfi zer and Moderna vaccines
on their own without infringing
upon their patents.
We’re getting closer to the end of the
crisis by the day, and we must do our part
by getting the COVID-19 vaccine when
we are eligible. It’s the safest, best hope
we have of restoring and rebuilding our
city and country.
Photo by Dean Moses
We’re getting closer to the end of the crisis by the day, and we must do our part by getting the COVID-19
vaccine when we are eligible.
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