O'Side Officials talk pandemic, vaccines

Posted

Medical professionals and elected officials gathered virtually for a panel discussion hosted by the Oceanside Library on Jan. 27, focusing on the coronavirus.

The group discussed the local effects of Covid-19, the vaccine and the distribution plan, while providing Oceanside residents with information and resources to help them during this troubling time.

Dr. Jacqueline Moline, vice president of occupational medicine, epidemiology and prevention at Northwell Health, discussed the vaccine’s effects and people’s concerns about them.

“The technology for mRNA, messenger RNA vaccines, has been around for decades, and it actually was used in the first SARS,” she explained. “They were beginning to develop a vaccine for the first SARS using this technology.”

Kellyanne Brady, clinical director and adjunct professor at the Health and Wellness Center at Molloy College, spoke of the importance of keeping checks on mental health during the pandemic.

“It’s really important during this time to keep an eye on your mental health, to notice any sensations of feeling more sad, feeling less willing to get out of bed, or you find yourself losing interest in things that you normally enjoyed doing,” she said, urging those who are feeling these effects to reach out mental health services.

State Assemblywoman Melissa Miller, a Republican of Atlantic Beach, also spoke during the session, and said that she was unhappy with how the vaccine has been distributed so far, noting that it “has not been a very smooth process.”

New York is still in phase 1B of the vaccine distribution schedule, and phase 1C is projected to start between March and April. Miller explained how phase 1A was set up to focus on high-risk medical workers, which included emergency room staff, intensive care unit staff, and pulmonary department staff. Phase 1B, which included first responders like police officers, firefighters, and EMS workers, was originally designated for individuals 85 and older.

“Then they opened it up to 75 and up, and that more or less bottlenecked the entire system,” Miller said.” Phase 1B opened to include individuals aged 65 and over on Jan. 11.

Miller explained that on the state level, every week an order is placed based on need. The federal government, as part of project Warp Speed, surveys each state and the manufacturers to ensure that the latter is going to have enough vaccine to deliver according to the orders coming in from the states. Each state has an allocation allotment based on population, and New York’s number is around 400,000 vaccines per week. But after including the 65 and older crowd, the pool of eligible New Yorkers is up to around 7.5 million people, Miller said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who expanded the age eligibility based on the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has accused the federal government of not expanding the supply of vaccines to match the expansion of eligibility. “I happen to be Christian. This is a loaves and fishes situation,” Cuomo said.

Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, a Republican from Long Beach, said reaching seniors living at home is one of the biggest challenges. “Our Office of Aging is working, setting up a telephone line that will be manned by people,” she said. “It won’t be a recording,” The hope is that this will assist seniors in setting up appointments, ensuring that doses continue to be used, she added.

Hempstead, the largest town in the U.S., received $133 million in federal CARES Act funding that it has put toward helping local businesses, including several in Oceanside, Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito said, noting that the goal was to continue helping businesses survive the pandemic.

“We spent about $3.5 million on [personal protective equipment] kits that were delivered to business owners, churches, libraries and many other places,” D’Esposito said.