In NYC’s furthest flung neighborhood, vaccine a tough sell

People without legal status in the U.S. are also fearful of getting vaccinated because they’re hesitant to give personal information, local health workers told The Associated Press. The brief pause on Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot dose, while health authorities considered a potential link to rare blood clots, also turned people away, they said.

Some progress is being made. The Addabbo center’s Far Rockaway branch has been vaccinating between 30-80 people a day. Earlier this month, it began offering additional vaccine slots on weekends, which is “helpful to capture the working-class people who can’t afford to take off a weekday,” Anderson said. Addabbo is seeing results from the weekend sessions. In one weekend alone in mid-May, more than 200 people got the vaccine at the clinic’s Far Rockaway location.

Angelita Ramos, a 47-year-old Spanish teacher, recently got her second Moderna jab. She initially delayed vaccination.

“I was scared,” she said. “To be honest, I said, ‘Let me see how it’s going to work out.’”

Ramos said seeing other teachers getting vaccinated convinced her to get the shot.

Elva Rosario, 79, also received her second dose recently, saying she often walked by the vaccine site but didn’t think the vaccine was necessary since she was never infected.