The New York neighborhood of Sunset Park, in Brooklyn, begins to wake up at 07:30 in the morning, when two groups converted into mobile vaccination clinics park on Seventh Avenue, between 53rd and 57th streets, to begin an immunization campaign in the poorer areas and more affected by coronavirus in New York.
Ada, a young woman of Asian origin, is one of the people who has requested an appointment to receive the only prick required by the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical vaccine, the one chosen for this itinerant initiative.
“I work in a restaurant and I need it for my work,” says Ada, who assures that she lives in Brooklyn at about 30 minutes from where the buses have been located, which will remain in the same place for the next two days, before moving to other areas of the city.
The executive director of the Department of Analysis and Monitoring of Covid-19 in New York, Ted Long, explains to Efe along with the vehicles that the objective of the two buses that have been temporarily installed in Sunset Park is vaccinate restaurant workers.
The New York neighborhood of Sunset Park, in Brooklyn with the two buses converted into mobile vaccination clinics. Photo EFE
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However, since the brand-new mobile clinics, decorated with a drawing of the Statue of Liberty wearing a protective mask and a plaster on her arm as a sign that she has been vaccinated, a large number of passers-by have taken up positions in the neighborhood. approaches to ask if they can access to one of the 200 doses to be injected each day.
“At first we are focused on restaurant workers and food delivery people at home, and if we see that there is an interest here, we will go further,” says Long after explaining: “These are the new acquisitions of our fleet, which is made up of 20 mobile vans vaccination programs and that are all over New York today, engaging the most difficult to reach populations. “
After this stop in Sunset Park, where Asian businesses abound and the “brownstone” -the typical Brooklyn townhouses with brick facades and steep access stairs-, the buses, in which you can also read “Vaccines for everyone, safe, free and easy“They will travel to the east of the Harlem neighborhood in northern Manhattan next Monday.
Efforts
This pair of vehicles joins the hospitals, pharmacies, tents and mass vaccination spaces such as stadiums and fairgrounds that the authorities have been deploying to accelerate as much as possible lto immunization of the entire population of the city.
Since the first punctures began to be administered, the data revealed that the black and Latin American communities, among other minorities, were being left behind in the immunization campaign despite having been those most affected by the pandemic, so the authorities have tried to reach this population.
Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to speed up the vaccination rate. Photo AFP Photo
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“We are going to use them as long as it takes to to be able to vaccinate as soon as possible to as many New Yorkers as we can, “Long says.
The mayor of the city, Bill de Blasio, has set himself a goal that they can be vaccinated by June five of the more than eight million of residents in the city.
Until now, more than 4.5 million vaccines have been administered, but in most cases it is still the first of the two doses that are needed in the case of immunizers from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, the most widespread in the country.
How are they used
Tristan Sherry is one of the nurses who receives candidates on one of the two buses, after they have confirmed their registration and filled in the information required by the authorities, which includes everything from questions about possible allergies to sexual orientation, race or the religion.
He assures that he chose to participate in this project “to make the vaccine more accessible, be able to educate the community and help“.
“We are putting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so it only takes one dose and nothing else, so we don’t have to go back,” he says behind the curtains, where he receives candidates to inject the vaccine into their arms.
After the puncture, those already vaccinated go to the next vehicle where wait between 15 and 30 minutes to rule out any allergic reaction, before going out and going about your daily chores.
EFE Agency
