FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 19, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 37
All healthcare workers in New York ordered to get COVID-19 vaccine
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
All New York state healthcare workers
will need to be vaccinated against COVID-
19 by Sept. 27, according to a new mandate
from outgoing Governor Andrew Cuomo
that was announced Monday, Aug. 16.
Th e vaccine mandate applies to staff
workers at state hospitals and long-term
care facilities such as nursing homes, adultcare
Donations at Bay Terrace blood drive will save ‘more than 300 lives’
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@schnepsmedia.com
@jenna_bagcal
An urgent-need blood drive in Bay
Terrace received donations from more
than 100 generous Queens residents in
the midst of a national blood shortage
caused by COVID-19.
Th e Ninth Annual Summer Blood
Drive was co-hosted by Assemblyman
Edward Braunstein and the New York
Blood Center on Th ursday, Aug. 5, at Th e
Bay Terrace shopping center. According
to the lawmaker, “more than 300 lives will
be saved” thanks to blood donations from
last week.
“I’m proud to announce that over 100
northeast Queens residents answered the
call for urgently needed blood donations
at my offi ce’s 9th Annual Summer Blood
Drive on Aug. 5,” Braunstein said on
Facebook. “Th anks to their generosity,
more than 300 lives will be saved.”
In addition to the lifesaving good deed, all
donors received a free, limited edition New
York Mets T-shirt and were entered into a
sweepstakes to win six tickets to a game.
Since the onset of COVID-19, nonprofits
like the New York Blood Center and
American Red Cross continue to experience
major blood shortages due to an
increase in trauma cases, organ transplants
and elective surgeries that were put
on hold during the pandemic.
In a report by City Limits, NYBC’s
Executive Director Andrea Cefarelli said
that hundreds of school blood drives were
canceled during COVID-19 and community
based drives were reduced from 550
a month to about 350 a month, which
also contributed to the national blood
shortage.
Over the next few months, the New
York Blood Center is hosting multiple
blood donation drives in Queens neighborhoods.
Visit donate.nybc.org/donor/
schedules/geo to fi nd the location of the
nearest donation event.
and other congregate care settings.
According to data released by the state
Department of Health, 75% of the state’s
hospital workers, 74% of the adult-care
facility workers and 68% of the state’s nursing
home workers are fully vaccinated.
Cuomo’s mandate comes in the wake
of COVID-19’s nationwide surge via the
delta variant, including a 1,000% increase
in New York state’s daily positive caseloads
over the last six weeks, with more than 80%
of recent positives in the state linked to the
delta variant.
“When COVID ambushed New York
last year, New Yorkers acted, while the
federal government denied the problem,”
said Cuomo, who is set to leave offi ce on
Aug. 24 following his Aug. 10 resignation
announcement. “We must now act again
to stop the spread. Our healthcare heroes
led the battle against the virus, and now we
need them to lead the battle between the
variant and the vaccine. We have always
followed the science, and we’re doing so
again today, with these recommendations
by Dr. Howard Zucker and federal and
state health experts.”
On July 28, Cuomo said that state
employees and patient-facing employees
in New York state hospitals will be required
to get vaccinated for COVID-19 by Labor
Day.
Additionally, Cuomo reported that the
state Department of Health has
also authorized a third
COVID-19 vaccine dose
for immunocompromised
New Yorkers.
Eligible New Yorkers
can receive their third
dose 28 days aft er the
completion of their
two-dose vaccine
series, eff ective immediately.
Th e CDC is currentlyrecommending
that moderately
to severely immunocompromised
people
receive an additional
dose, including
people who have:
• Been receiving active cancer treatment
for tumors or cancers of the blood;
• Received an organ transplant and are
taking medications to suppress the immune
system;
• Received a stem cell transplant within the
last 2 years or are taking medicine to suppress
the immune system;
• Moderate or severe primary immunodefi
ciency (such as DiGeorge syndrome,
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome);
• Advanced or untreated
HIV infection;
• Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids,
cancer chemotherapy that
causes sever immunosuppression, or
other medications that may suppress your
immune response.
wellness
Photo by Dean Moses
The fi rst round of Pfi zer
vaccines were
administered at
Long Island Jewish
Medical
Center.
Photos courtesy of Assemblyman Braunstein’s offi ce
The Ninth Annual Summer Blood Driveat The Bay Terrace shopping center.
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