im getting the fall covid booster I'm 'portly', diabetic, sedentary, and my lungs ain't great.

[samhexum]

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is launching a new “vaccine equity” campaign aimed at persuading thousands of older and disabled New York City residents to get their updated COVID-19 and flu shots this fall and winter. 

The NYC Community Partnerships for Vaccine Access and Equity (CompPass) will launch the outreach effort to distribute the shots in the South Bronx, Far Rockaway in Queens and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Brownsville, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach.

The city Health Department’s fundraising arm, the Fund for Public Health put out a request for bids to operate in those zip codes.

The six-month initiative will begin in September, and allocate $394,500 to hire three community or faith-based groups that will conduct on-the-ground efforts to connect with seniors and residents with disabilities and encourage them to vax up.

The effort to boost inoculation rates is also being supported by federal funding through the National Council on Aging.

“Selected community and/or faith-based organizations (C/FBOs) will support a fall 2023/winter 2024 vaccination campaign to boost protection and limit the anticipated flu and COVID-19 surge,” the Health Department proposal says.

“The goal is to increase the number of older adults (OA) and persons living with disabilities (PLWD) receiving COVID-19 and Influenza ‘flu’ vaccinations.”

The proposal adds: “Wherever possible, vaccine champions will be ethnically, culturally, demographically, and age-appropriate for the target populations which promotes messaging credibility and raises community confidence.” I wanna see the champion who visits a retirement home for drag queens.

The city vax campaign comes on the heels of the state Health Department reporting a double-digit spike in both COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions across the country.

This new initiative is part of the city Public Health Corps (PHC) whose mission is to help communities that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which typically have lower vaccination rates than the citywide average.

The Mayor’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity will also be involved in the campaign.

“In addition to the deliverables of the contract, the executive leadership of selected
contractors is expected to work with the NYC Health Department on strengthening capacity of
and building trust with communities that have been disproportionately harmed by COVID-19,” health department officials said.

The contractors will target at least 9,000 older New Yorkers and persons with disabilities in the selected neighborhoods — 2,700 in The Bronx; 4,500 in Brooklyn and 1,800 in Far Rockaway.  I'll be going back to Walgreens.

The effort includes conducting street canvassing and sponsoring community outreach and vaccine events, distributing 51,100 pieces of literature, making 31,100 phone texts, and arranging or scheduling ride-sharing and Access-A-Ride trips for seniors and residents with disabilities to get their shots.

The Health Department must approve the contractors’ educational materials for medical accuracy before release.

The contractors also must screen the targeted seniors and disabled for other health issues and refer them to the proper medical providers in a broader bid to bolster health outcomes.

A Health Department spokesman said of the vaxx campaign, “COVID and flu can be serious for many New Yorkers and vaccination could be the difference between a few days recovering at home and a few days in the hospital. We will continue to promote vaccines to protect New Yorkers.”

[Guest]

A new variant came out recently (similar to the more recent variants in its low virulence). I would wait until the new vaccine comes out. October is usually the best month to get flu shots, and hopefully the new Covid booster will be available by then. Bear in mind that for the last 1.5 years, influenza is way more dangerous than Covid. Sure, it's a good idea to get vaccinated, but not as critical as it was 2 years ago. 

When Should You Get Your Next Covid-19 Booster? How To Decide

WWW.FORBES.COM

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With Covid-19 cases on the rise again, you may be wondering when to get your next Covid-19 booster vaccine: now or this Fall when the new updated version...

 

Why you should wait until the new XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant booster is available in the Fall

There are essentially three reasons to wait for the next formulation of the booster. One big reason is that this new version should be a better match against the versions of the virus that are circulating now and that should be circulating over the ensuing months. Recall that the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant became the dominant one in the U.S. when 2022 segued into 2023, as I covered for Forbes back then. Granted, the XBB.1.5 is no longer the alpha-dog of variants, having since been overtaken by an alpha-numeric soup of other subvariants, such as EG.5, for example. However, the XBB.1.5 still comprises an estimated 10.3% of all Covid-19 cases in the U.S., according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid-19 Data Tracker. And the currently available bivalent boosters were designed to target the original SARS-CoV-2 strain as well as the BA.4/BA.5 Omicron variants that were yesteryears’ news and have essentially gone poof by now.

[+ Pensant]

Oh Lord!

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Pensant said:

Oh Lord!

A simple "Unicorn" will suffice... 😄