Together we are making progress. As of March 2nd, 14.9% of Rockland residents have received their first dose of vaccine. This number is beginning to climb more quickly as vaccine allocations from New York State and the Federal government increase and with the approval of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine we will soon be making even more progress.

We are collaborating with everyone we can to move this process forward. Recently my Administration, the Governor’s Office and Refuah Health Center were able to get hundreds of vaccines into the arms of many across the entire County with an emphasis on our beleaguered senior population who have been largely boxed out due to the difficulties they experienced with the State website.

Over the last week 280 seniors who had signed up for the Office for the Aging’s COVID- 19 Vaccine Waitlist have been vaccinated with shots originally delivered to Refuah. 80 were vaccinated at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern by hospital staff and 200 were vaccinated at the County’s Fire Training Center by Refuah staff. Our Office for the Aging staff also assisted seniors as they went through the process.

We also partnered with Refuah in connecting to many community groups across Rockland. Refuah vaccinated eligible individuals at these locations:

– Suffern Community Center (in cooperation with the Suffern Mayor’s Office)
– Centro De Amigos
– Yeshiva Spring Valley Schools
–  Horizons of Wurtsburo (Sullivan County)
– Esther Gitlow Towers Senior Housing Center
– Hyenga Lake Senior Housing in Spring Valley
– Konbit Neg Lakay
– Yeshiva of Greater Monsey
– Dunkin Donuts of Suffern

Refuah did tremendous work during our measles outbreak where county-wide over 30,000 MMR shots were given. They are true public health and community partners who know how to get shots into arms.

Rockland residents age 65+ can still sign up to the Senior COVID-19 Vaccine Waitlist by calling the Rockland County Office for the Aging at 845-364-2110, Monday through Friday (except holidays), 8:00 am through 5:00 pm. In addition, residents can sign up online http://rcklnd.us/c19-waitlist.

Those 65+ are also being prioritized by pharmacies. You must make an appointment or get on a list at each separate location depending on how their process works. Each week we update the list of locations in Rockland receiving vaccine from New York State; that list is available here: https://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/coronavirus-covid-19/vaccine-allocation/

Refuah, as a Federally Qualified Health Center, is also able to vaccinate anyone who is currently eligible under NYS guidelines at their facilities. You can find more information about signing up with Refuah here: https://refuahhealth.org/get-the-shot/
Additionally, any individual eligible under the NYS guidelines can schedule an appointment at any NYS-operated mass vaccination site through this website: https://am-i-eligible.covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/

We will continue to identify and implement strategies designed to overcome the difficulties presented by the State's vaccine rollout. For those still searching, please be patient. We want to get you vaccinated, and we will as soon as we have the vaccine needed to do so.

*This is a weekly column by Rockland County Executive Ed Day.