On Wednesday, April 14, NBC News reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and head of the White House coronavirus task force, said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause will last days, not months. Almost 7 million Americans have received the Johnson & Johnson shot so far.

 

On Friday, April 23, a CDC vaccine advisory committee recommended that the nationwide pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine should be lifted following the completion of the investigation, as reported by The Hill.

 

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 10-4 with one abstention, that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks, and that it will save lives, according to The Hill report.

 

The report added that the panel did not specifically ask for a warning label, but recommended that the FDA add a label intended to make providers aware of the risk of a rare complication involving blood clots in women under the age of 50. In the meantime, the administration of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has resumed for people who are home-bound in New York State.

 

In accordance with the updated FDA fact sheet, if you receive the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, and within three weeks, you experience any of the following symptoms, you should contact your health care provider:

• Severe headache
• Chest or abdominal pain
• Leg pain or swelling
• Shortness of breath
• Easy bruising or tiny blood spots under the skin at the site of injection

 

Norwood News recently reported on how The Bronx has the lowest vaccination rate across New York City at 35 percent, as well as the efforts being taken to address that.

 

On Saturday, April 17, the City announced that walk-up COVID-19 vaccinations for New Yorkers aged 50 years and older are now available at City-run vaccine sites: nyc.gov/vcc.

 

The same day, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. confirmed that the following Bronx sites are vaccinating New Yorkers 50+ without an appointment:

• Bronx Co-Op City Dreiser Community Center
• Northeast Bronx YMCA (Edenwald)
• South Bronx Educational Campus
• West Bronx Gymnasium
• Lehman College – Apex Center
• Bathgate Contract Postal Station

 

Vaccine Appointments

Appointments are required to receive a vaccination. To determine your eligibility, access a list of nearby providers, and schedule a vaccination appointment, use New York State’s Am I Eligible app.

Prior to receiving a scheduled vaccination, residents must complete the New York State COVID-19 Vaccine Form. Please be patient and continue to monitor these links frequently for available vaccine appointments:

New York City: https://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/ or 877-VAX-4NYC (877-829-4692)

New York State: https://am-i-eligible.covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/ or call 1-833-NYS-4-VAX (1-833-697-4829)

VaccineTogetherNY: https://vaccinetogetherny.org/Pages/default.aspx or call 646-697-VACC

To schedule an appointment, go to: https://vax4nyc.nyc.gov/patient/s/.

To find a vaccination site, go to: https://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/locations.

 

Your physician or local pharmacy may also have information on scheduling vaccine appointments.

 

If you need transportation to get your vaccine appointment, click this link for a list of options: https://forms.ny.gov/s3/vaccine.

 

To schedule an appointment at Yankee Stadium, you can also call 1-833-SomosNY. Another new mass vaccination site opened at Co-Op City on Thursday, March 4, which is open to all eligible applicants.

 

For trustworthy information on the vaccines and the research behind them, go to: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-vaccine-facts.page.

 

The MTA announced that it has launched a new vaccination site locator on its live subway map. See the map here:

https://map.mta.info/#@40.70949,-73.97853,14z

More Help with Scheduling Vaccine Appointments

Epicenter-NYC is a vetted, volunteer group, assisting New Yorkers to find and schedule vaccine appointments, particularly the elderly, and anyone not adept at using the internet. More details can be found here: https://epicenter-nyc.com/epicenters-vaccine-resources/ or my emailing hello@epicenter-nyc.com.

 

Separately, and additionally, the turbovax site, https://www.turbovax.info/, scans the websites of all providers offering the vaccine throughout the city and lists their available appointments.

 

Another volunteer group who go by the Twitter handle @VaccineschedNYC and Instagram handle @VaccineSchedulerNYC are also helping vulnerable populations like seniors and non-native English speakers to book vaccine appointments. For questions, contact VaccineSchedulerNYC@gmail.com or phone/text: 646-494-7029.

 

Bronx Rising Initiative, a nonprofit launched in 2020, has launched a homebound vaccine initiative to help inoculate Bronx seniors where they live, in partnership with local community organizations which are already serving homebound seniors. Residents can sign-up at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/getvaccinated.