Courtney Luciana Photo
Wallace Daniels Sr. receives his J&J vaccine from nurse Mimi Wright.
The latest two-day effort to reach unvaccinated New Haveners is relying on live music and pizza. Whatever it takes.
Those are among the lures set up as part of a daytime walk-up vaccination clinic on the Green, which began Wednesday and runs through Thursday afternoon.
Griffin Hospital and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) organized the FEMA mobile vaccination clinic with the city and the state to offer up tof 400 Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines each day. The shots are free; no appointment is necessary. The hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In the new vaccination reality, it’s hard to find enough people to take all the shots available. Thus the music and pie.
Wallace Daniels Sr., 62, stopped by on Wednesday to get his “one and done” J&J shot.
“Where Yale wanted to send me was too far away from my house,” Daniels Sr. said. “I don’t have a car. They should have done this vaccination clinic from the start.”
Mimi Wright, the nurse who gave Daniels his shot, said that people still have a lot of skepticism towards the vaccine. Wright said that she will continue to educate and provide information on Covid-19 vaccines while providing shots.
“One of the popular kinds of rumors that I hear that people will say to me is that they aren’t sure if Covid is real,” Wright said. “I’m able to confirm for them that it is indeed real.”
Jim McPherson, coordinating officer for FEMA region 1 (pictured), said that 10,000 Covid-19 vaccinations have been distributed through the FEMA mobile units located in the city and in Hartford since March 29. The pop-ups are scheduled to continue through Aug. 19.
“FEMA is really trying to travel directly to the people and provide accessibility to underserved communities,” McPherson said.
Mayor Justin Elicker said that these partnerships have helped the city get more people vaccinated.
“It’s about us reaching out and accessing our strengths,” Mayor Elicker said. “Working with the state [Department of Health], with our health department, with Griffin, and the Red Cross. There’s folks canvassing around here trying to pull people and convince them that it’s the right thing to do.”
Griffin Hospital CEO Patrick Charmel (pictured on far left) said the last time Griffin partnered with the FEMA mobile vaccination on the Green in April. 700 vaccinations a day were distributed. This time around, with the sale harder, Griffin enlisted 94.3 WYBC FM to provide music and New Haven pizza to make the event more of a celebration and to attract the public towards the tent.
“Our numbers are pretty high. We’re leading the country in terms of the percentage of adults that are vaccinated. There are still hundreds of thousands of individuals that haven’t been vaccinated. Together we need to understand their concerns and try to overcome those concerns to get them vaccinated,” Charmel said.
The plan is to include 12-15 year-olds at Thursday’s pop-up, now that federal approval has been granted to administer Pfizer vaccines to that group. Again, no appointment needed.
“We have an ample supply of Covid-19 vaccines,” Charmel said. “We need to create the demand.”
City Health Department Director Maritza Bond said that the New Haven Health Department has vaccinated over 20,000 people to date. She said that with the expansion of 12-15 year olds becoming eligible the city is gearing up with their vaccine providers and Griffin Hospital.
“When we really start breaking it down by different age groups, we have some successes that vary,” Bond said. “We’re looking to activate and make ourselves accessible right throughout the school district so that children in that age group can get vaccinated. Most importantly, we want to allow people to be ready and not try to force them to get vaccinated.”
City Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana (pictured on left) said getting vaccinated will allow life to return to some sense of normalcy.
“We all miss the closeness of one another,” Fontana said. “The numbers are as low as we’ve seen them in several months. Vaccination is a way to get those numbers down.”
Jason Carasone said that he heard about the FEMA mobile clinic through word of mouth. Carasone said that if the clinic hadn’t been available on the Downtown Green, then it wouldn’t have been as easy for him to get vaccinated. He decided to go with Pfizer.
“I like the set-up of this. I like that it’s on the Green,” Carasone said. “I even like that the National Guard is here.”
Jose Cuvi arrived for his second Pfizer shot.
“I would had preferred to had just come here from the start and get the J&J,” Cuvi said. “It’s only one dose. It’s easier and way more convenient. I took off of work just to get vaccinated today.”
Griffin Hospital Nurse Joy DiMauro.
Griffin Hospital Nurse Joy DiMauro was in the mobile van preparing vaccines. She retired but returned to work in December to serve the people.
“I couldn’t stay home. I’ve gotten as much back as I’ve given,” DiMaruo said with tears in her eyes. “People are so happy to get vaccinated. One vaccine at a time.”
Thank you to everyone providing vaccines on the green. There are lots of people who don't drive and taking a bus to the green is easier, especially since you don't have to make an appointment. I hope that more mobil clinics will pop up in the city's parks and playgrounds in every neighborhood so that people who want the vaccine but were having trouble getting to the mass vaccination sites will have easier access near where they live.