Nassau Focusing On Equitable Coronavirus Vaccine Distribution

UNIONDALE, NY — Nassau County Executive Laura Curran announced the county is teaming up with Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in Uniondale to help ensure coronavirus vaccines are distributed equitably. Sloan Kettering will be running four pop-up clinics to help inoculate hundreds of members of the Uniondale community.

The county and Sloan Kettering will host four pop-up clinics at the hospital's Uniondale campus, located on Hempstead Turnpike, in the next two weeks. Each clinic will provide vaccinations for 100 residents, who have been pre-registered.

"By teaming up with community providers like Sloan Kettering and reaching out through trusted messengers, like houses of worship, community leaders and elected officials, our vaccination efforts are reaching all communities in Nassau," said Curran.

The pop-up clinics are part of the county's "We Can Do It Nassau" vaccine initiative, which aims to inoculate as many residents as possible. To date, nearly 330,000 Nassau residents have received the first dose of the vaccine. Because children can't be vaccinated, officials said that's about a third of the county's eligible population.

But county officials are concerned about reaching communities of color, which have been hit harder by the virus than other parts of the county. While offering vaccines seven days a week at distribution sites, the county has also held multiple other pop-up clinics in minority communities over the past few months.

In addition to the pop-up clinics, the partnership with Sloan Kettering includes educational outreach in communities of color about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

"Communities of color have some very well-founded mistrust in our healthcare system, and are also dealing with the effects of structural racism and discrimination that impact their overall health," said Dr. Carol Brown, the chief health equity officer at Memorial Sloan. "So we understand why they may be reluctant, but we know that when people are given information and knowledge, that enables them to make the right decision for them."

The clinics are scheduled to be held on March 11, 16, 18 and 23. Participants will be given the Moderna vaccine, and will receive their second dose at the same location four weeks later.

Curran said the county plans to extend its partnership with Sloan Kettering into the months beyond the pandemic to education communities of color on cancer screenings and routine care.

"We know we have health disparities based on socioeconomic and racial lines in Nassau County," she said. "We've got the best hospital systems in the world, we've got the best medical care in the world, but unfortunately we also have glaring health disparities. And we are focused on targeting those and closing the gap. Making access equal and easy for everybody."