SACSS hosts vaccine clinic bringing COVID & Flu shots to Flushing community
SACSS, in partnership with Public Health Solutions, Apicha Community Health Center, and the National Council on Aging (NCOA), hosted a successful pop-up clinic on Feb. 29 to bring the latest COVID and flu vaccines to older adults and individuals with disabilities in the Flushing community.
Residents trickled into SACSS’s community center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., to get a Moderna COVID-19 and flu vaccine provided by Apicha.
Through a federal grant, NCOA’s COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccine Uptake Initiative is a nationwide effort to expand vaccine access to older adults and people with disabilities.
“We want to make sure that our older adults are advocating for themselves,” said Denisha Hobbs, a gerontologist and program specialist with the National Council on Aging. “When it comes to cultural competency, health equity, and health literacy, we want to ensure that older adults have the tools they need to navigate their lives.”
The event helped to raise awareness about the importance of staying up to date on vaccinations and the rise of Long COVID, which are signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue or develop after acute COVID-19 infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
“There’s no single test and no treatment offered for Long Covid,” said Michael Hernandez, outreach and advocacy manager of Public Health Solution. “We want to try and help people experiencing these ongoing symptoms before they get worse. Long COVID is characterized as a disability, and that is whatever prevents us from being able to have the quality of life and to do the things we would normally be able to do and cannot do anymore.”
During the onset of the pandemic in 2020, SACSS partnered with Public Health Solutions and other community organizations to keep people safe, maintain the continuity of essential services, and ensure effective response to COVID-19.
“We’re happy to be able to bring that service directly to people instead of having them travel to a hospital or their doctor. It’s much easier when you can bring the service to people and remove many barriers to access,” said Apicha’s assistant director of Community Engagement.