Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Pastors J.C Cadwallader, Roger Wilkins, and Timothy Keyl join Elicker and Bond in urging community members to get vaccinated and boosted.
Mayor Justin Elicker, Public Health Director Maritza Bond, and three local faith leaders finished their week with a “boost” — and spread the message that residents should schedule their own shots to help shrink the ongoing spread of Covid-19.
Righ-handed Elicker watches the needle …
… and left-handed Bond looks away: “I didn’t even feel it!”
Elicker and Bond got their third shot of the Moderna vaccine Friday morning at the New Haven Health Department, located at 54 Meadow St.
Walk-ins can get their booster vaccine shots at the department on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. or on Fridays between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (You can also walk in to CVS pharmacies or make appointments online for free initial vaccine and booster shots, or walk in to a clinic at the main library branch at 133 Elm St. Mondays through Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm.)
Elicker reported that 75 percent of eligible New Haveners above the age of 12 have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine so far, and 68 percent are fully vaccinated.
Though other municipalities have already rolled back their mask mandates, Elicker said the city is waiting for cases to drop and vaccination rates to rise in New Haven and around New England states before his administration considers following suit.
First Presbyterian Church of New Haven Pastor J.C. Cadwallader, post shot.
Pastor Timothy Keyl of Bethesda Lutheran Church said that those who have lost trust in institutions and government should still trust those with “god-given wisdom” telling them to get vaccinated.
Receiving a booster jab significantly reduces one’s likelihood of contracting and transmitting the virus as well as experiencing severe symptoms.
Friday’s crew got the booster in hopes of bringing New Haven business back to “normal” — and, of course, for the stickers. If you get the shot, the nurses at 54 Meadow St. might just give you one too.
Virus rates are rising as we increasingly are inside with the colder weather, and many communities are dropping mask mandates for inside. Covid 19 rates of hospitalizations are rising and experts are saying that while predominately these hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated and immunocompromised breakthrough infections, they are starting to see patients whose immunity from the vaccines are waning after more than 6 months since their second dose of the vaccine. Getting a booster or third dose, of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or a second dose booster of the J&J vaccine will booster your immunity as it starts to drop off after 6 months or if you are immunocompromised or have co-morbidities or work in jobs that leave you vulnerable and high risk to breakthrough infections.
Wearing a mask indoors when with people not from your household, and outside when in crowds, and sterilizing and washing your hands, will help prevent passing the virus around to others or to yourself from others.