COVID-19: Disability charity helps immunize nearly 300 with J&J vaccine

WEST PALM BEACH — As efforts to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus hit a speed bump, in part because some unvaccinated people feel reluctant to be immunized, people like Alan Rosenbaum, a disabled retired steel worker, lined up Friday to get a shot.

"I'd rather take this needle than end up in the hospital," he said from the back seat of the car his wife, Cynthia Rosenbaum, parked at United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches, off of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. Alan walks with a brace and Cynthia is his caretaker.

The church, working with the Coalition For Independent Living Options (CILO) — a West Palm Beach charity that helps people with disabilities — hosted a mobile vaccine van Friday.

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Healthcare workers had enough of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines to immunize 385 people who had registered through CILO. By the end of the event that afternoon, fewer than 100 doses remained, CEO Dan Shorter said.

The resumption of J&J vaccinations after a 13-day pause that ended April 23 appears to be helping hard-to-reach people such as those with disabilities.

Nurses working for Matrix Medical Network, the Arizona-based company contracted with Florida to administer Friday's vaccines, said that in early April, when they gave J&J shots in Immokalee, lots of migrant farmworkers came to get immunized. The one-shot formula was especially convenient for them because they move around the country often to pick crops.

Then the federal government recommended on April 13 that J&J injections be paused after six women out of about 7 million who got the shot developed blood clots, or less than one in a million.

The stream of migrant workers seeking vaccines ebbed, said one nurse not authorized to speak to reporters.

Still, if those workers got the first of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer shots, then traveled out of state to follow work, healthcare workers could still follow up with them to administer the second dose, said Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the state-run Palm Beach County health department, during a County Commission meeting Tuesday.

More vaccinations — with no appointments needed — scheduled in Palm Beach County

While less than one in a million J&J recipients developed blood clots, more than one in 10 people across America and Florida have been infected by the pathogen since the pandemic began. About one in 56 people the virus has infected in the U.S. has died, as have about one in 63 people in Florida who caught it.

Despite the extremely low risk of clotting, the pause contributed to a slump in COVID-19 immunizations.

About 1.3 million people in Florida got at least one shot of the vaccine in the 17 days from April 13 to Friday, compared to nearly 1.5 million people from April 1 to 13.

Non-vaccinated Black and Hispanic people declined the vaccine, including some who received the first of the two-dose shots, health officials in Palm Beach County said. Fear of the rare side-effects, reported by the media, contributed to their reluctance.

But after 10 days, the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the J&J pause April 23, declaring the formula safe for all, clearing the way for mobile sites such as the one organized Friday in West Palm Beach.

"At first the looks on their faces is desperation," said Shorter, CILO's CEO. "They're eager to get the shot. Then, after, it's relief. 'Oh, thank you, we couldn't get through on the computer'" to book a vaccine appointment online.

Anyone looking to schedule an appointment through CILO, especially those with disabilities or serious illness, can email Shorter at dan@CILO.org.

The Health Care District of Palm Beach County will administer 120 first-doses of Pfizer shots from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Pompey Park in Delray Beach, on Northwest 10th Avenue, north of Atlantic Avenue, no appointment needed.

Another charity that helps people with disabilities, Best Buddies, will have helpers at a walk-up clinic Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fort Pierce Recreation Center on 903 South 21st Street. Vaccine seekers must register by getting a "Buddy Pass" by emailing florida@bestbuddies.org.

To find more pop-up sites each day, go online to floridadisaster.org/Vaccine, scroll down on the web page and click "Mobile one-day vaccination clinics" to see schedules and locations statewide.

cpersaud@pbpost.com

COVID-19 by the numbers

2,228,212 — People in Florida who have been diagnosed with the disease, including 5,306 new infections, Florida's health department reported Friday.

143,129 — People in Palm Beach County who have tested positive, including 300 new cases.

32,315,363 — Confirmed cases in the United States.

150,793,484 — People infected worldwide.

35,858 — Deaths in Florida.

2,824 — Fatalities in the county.

575,551 — Deaths in the U.S.

3,170,879 — Global deaths.

6,183,101 — People in Florida fully vaccinated. Another 2,625,579 require second doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. This includes out-of-state residents.

449,170 — People in Palm Beach County who are fully vaccinated, or 30% of the population. Another 198,976 still need booster shots.

39% — Percentage of state residents over the age of 18 who are fully vaccinated, the CDC reported Friday.

37.2% — Percentage of county residents over the age of 18 who are fully vaccinated.

36% — Percentage of people in the nation over the age of 18 who are fully vaccinated.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: COVID-19: Disability charity helps immunize nearly 300 with J&J vaccine

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