COVID-19 vaccine seekers flocked to hard-hit Washington Heights on Wednesday from all over the city and state in search of the shot – including a couple being taken away in a limousine.
The Fort Washington Armory in Upper Manhattan, transformed into a vaccination site by a nearby location at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, remained one of the few vaccination sites in the city still active this week, despite a widespread shortage of shots.
But, as The City reported on Tuesday, many of those showing up for jabs came from outside the hard-hit neighborhood – and at the time, Spanish-speaking staffers were lacking to help mostly Spanish locals.
Although The Post met Spanish-speaking workers on Wednesday, the past trend continued.
“We’re relieved,” said Carol, an elderly woman who traveled from the Upper East Side with her husband to receive an injection. “We’ve been trying to get an appointment for two months. It’s crazy. “
Carol, who refused to give her last name, and her husband – who refused to identify himself – were picked up by a black Cadillac limousine after their appointment, while their driver waited with their small dog in tow.
“You have to fight for it,” Carol’s husband said, laughing when asked if he thought the vaccine was being distributed fairly.
Following outrage over news of outsiders being stabbed, NewYork-Presbyterian announced late on Wednesday that appointments on the site would now only go to residents of New York City – and that a minimum of 60 percent would be reserved for residents of Washington Heights, Inwood, Northern and Central Harlem and South Bronx. All existing agreements are still being honored.
Earlier that day, Min Ye had driven down from Schoharie County state for about three hours to make sure her mom, 78, and dad, 80, could be vaccinated after making an online appointment the day before.
She explained that her parents have an apartment in Midtown Manhattan, but have temporarily lived in her upstate.
‘They were just living in the state. They still have their apartment, ”she said. “We feel like we are part of this community too.”
Judy Stevens, 76, defended traveling from the Upper West Side for her vaccine, saying that Big Apple is one big community.
‘This is New York City and to me you give it to anyone who needs it. The people here can get behind the computer just like everyone else, ”said Stevens, whose daughter made her an appointment through the hospital earlier on Wednesday. “We are all in one place, but let’s not divide each other. We are all in New York City. We are all residents. “
Erica Smith brought her 88-year-old mother, who has a pacemaker, for a vaccination.
“I told them about my mom’s heart condition and they told me to get her in right away,” Smith said, referring to hospital staff.
Smith, who lives in Washington Heights with her mother, said she has no problem with outsiders coming in for the jabs.
“It’s a health situation, so why do you just want to help people? [your] neighborhood? ”she asked.
However, the mayor criticized the practice during a press conference on Wednesday morning.
“I’m really worried about what I’m hearing,” said de Blasio. “Here you have a place in the middle of an incredibly hard-hit neighborhood, a community largely made up of immigrants, a Latino community that was one of the places most affected by the COVID crisis.
“I want Columbia Presbyterian to do everything they can to reach out to the surrounding community,” he continued. “That should be the mandate. That should be the focus of that center, period. Many people want the vaccine in the community. “
Hizzoner went on to say that the vaccination effort cannot be seen as favoring people who are more “privileged” than others.
“The whole idea of a successful vaccination effort has to come from the community,” he said. “And people in the community need to see that those sites are really for them, and that they are not somehow left out of the sites of their own community. So this must be resolved immediately. “
At the city level, De Blasio recognized that both public and private hospitals could do better to ensure that paperwork and arrangements regarding the vaccination process were available in languages other than English and Spanish.
“It’s a huge, sprawling effort, but we need to make sure it’s as inclusive as possible,” de Blasio said, pressing the question of whether the city could force private facilities to provide materials in other languages that are available in the are usually spoken throughout the city, including Chinese. , French, Creole and Russian.
“It sounds like none of them are sure,” said de Blasio, when his request to weigh the town’s three medical experts on the line was answered with a long pause. “If we can’t order it, we have to take care of it really, really aggressively [that it’s implemented]. “
When Hizzoner turned to doctors for answers to forms in public, city-run hospitals, there was another pregnant break.
‘You have to give credit where the credit is due. If The New York Post is right, they are right, ”said de Blasio. “The actual forms to register for the appointments must be in languages other than English and Spanish, if we really want to maximize access. So we’ll get to work to fix that. “
The lack of translations isn’t the first time the city’s vaccination effort has been criticized for accessibility issues.
Older people have panned the city’s complicated online registration system to freeze them, even though they are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus.
In a statement, New York-Presbyterian said, An ongoing engagement initiative aims to reach eligible residents of North Manhattan and get them to register for appointments. This process is carried out in conjunction with more than 40 community-based and faith-based organizations and other partners, and aims to provide access, overcome hesitations and address persistent inequalities. “