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vaccine

New York’s ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ Vaccine Program: Education Incentives Announced

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The vaccine incentive program for 5- to 11-year olds offers a chance to win a SUNY or CUNY Full Scholarship 

Parents and Guardians of 5- To 11-Year-Olds Who Receive Their First Vaccine Dose by December 19 Can Enter Into the Random Drawing Here

Scholarship Includes Tuition, Room And Board 

 10 Winners per Week for Five Weeks with First Winners Announced November 24; Drawing Schedule Available Here

Parents, Guardians, And Communities Encouraged To Visit Ny.Gov/Vaxforkids;

New Posters, Stickers and Other Assets Available For Providers on the Ground Here

Today, during a COVID-19 briefing at the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center in Westchester County, Governor Kathy Hochul announced new efforts to support vaccinating 5- to 11-year-olds, including the launch of a new vaccine incentive program – ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ – for young New Yorkers. Parents and guardians of children ages 5 through 11 who receive their first vaccine dose by December 19th can enter the State’s incentive program for a chance for their child to win a full scholarship to any two- or four-year SUNY or CUNY college or university; the scholarship includes tuition, room, and board. Ten winners will be announced each week beginning November 24th, with a total of 50 winners being selected over the five-week period.

“Finally, the COVID-19 vaccine is here for young New Yorkers age 5 through 11,” Governor Hochul said. “Our critical work to make the vaccine accessible and available to all eligible children and their families is underway – and we will creatively support and celebrate those who get vaccinated. The ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ program is an extraordinary opportunity for children to win free tuition to a SUNY or CUNY college or university, and I urge parents and guardians to help their children get vaccinated and enter into this once-in-a-lifetime program.” 

Winners of the State’s incentive program will receive two or four years of full-time study in any SUNY or CUNY Associates or Bachelor’s degree program, which includes the following:

  • Tuition: The full cost of in-state tuition at a New York State or City University.
  • Non-tuition Costs: Room and board and allowances for books, supplies and transportation up to the average cost at SUNY colleges.
  • Residence: Students living on campus will receive a higher room and board allowance than commuter students. If housing is not available for students on campus, they will receive the same allowance as students living on campus.

CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said, “Expanding vaccine eligibility to children as young as 5 years old gives us even greater confidence that we will effectively subdue COVID-19 and put the conditions in place for New York’s full economic recovery. The ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ program will further incentivize parents and guardians to get their children protected, and we strongly encourage them to do so. We thank Governor Hochul for encouraging more New Yorkers to get vaccinated and for leveraging CUNY’s strong reputation to help lead the State’s resurgence.”

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras said, “Vaccinations were the key to a more normal academic and campus experience throughout SUNY. Now that even younger individuals have an approved vaccine option, this is another huge step to seeing the finish line of this pandemic, and we must continue to do all we can to encourage everyone to get their shot. I applaud Governor Hochul for offering this new incentive along with an opportunity to attend one of our campuses tuition free. We truly hope families across our state take advantage of this offer.”

New York State Higher Education Services Corporation President Dr. Guillermo Linares said, “I thank Governor Hochul for her leadership in expanding vaccinations to 5- to 11- year old’s and for her action to encourage even more of New York’s youth to get vaccinated. Launching the ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ Vaccine Incentive Program will enable New York to drive down the overall number of positive COVID cases and ensure all New Yorkers are protected. With more opportunities available for young people to receive a full scholarship to one of New York’s world-class institutions, there is no better time than now for kids 5-11 years old to get vaccinated.”

In order to be eligible, children must be between the ages of 5 to 11 and be residents of New York State. Pursuant to federal law, children must be lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens in order to be eligible. Federal COVID-19 relief and outreach funds will be used to cover the cost of this vaccination incentive program.

Parents and guardians can enter on behalf of their eligible children here and those without internet access may call 1-833-697-4829 to submit an entry over the phone. New York State will administer the random drawing each week, and winners will be verified by the New York State Department of Health and New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.

Only one entry per child will be accepted, and children must have received their first COVID-19 vaccination at least one day prior to their entry. Entries will be carried over through all the ‘Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate’ program’s drawings. Additional information is available in the Official Rules. 

Parents and guardians are also encouraged to visit the State’s new website, ny.gov/vaxforkids, for information, frequently asked questions, and new resources about the COVID-19 vaccine and children. The State has recently added ready-made materials to support pediatric providers and localities administering the vaccine to children on-the-ground, including new posters and stickers available here.

New Yorkers looking to schedule vaccine appointments for 5- to 11-year-old children are encouraged to contact their child’s pediatrician, family physician, county health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), rural health centers, or pharmacies that may be administering the vaccine for this age group. Parents and guardians can visit vaccines.gov, text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations. Make sure that the provider offers the Pfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine, as the other COVID-19 vaccines are not yet authorized for this age group. At this time, New York State’s mass vaccination sites are currently being utilized for people aged 12 and older, while our #VaxToSchool pop-ups are focused on 12- to 17-year-olds. Additional programming and events focused on 5- to 11-year-olds will be announced soon.

News courtesy of the office of New York State Governor

 

Reflections from the Precipice

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On Climbing the COVID Mountain: A Heartfelt and Fact-Based Plea by an Emergency Room Doctor

By Dr. Evan Cohen

As an emergency physician, a husband and a father of two young children, I spend a lot of time thinking about Covid. Where we have been and where we are going. I find that despite all the destruction and pain that we have endured, the future is still ours to create.

Here, on the precipice of the Covid mountain I realize that I’ve gone through all of the stages of pandemic grief. In February and early March it was shock and disbelief. I did not think that Covid-19 would be so bad; it was being overblown by the media. Like Ebola, Bird Flu and SARS, it was happening far away and would not affect me. When it reached our shores and my community in New York, I felt certain that we could briefly quarantine our way out of the mess. As April rolled around, I was angry that so many people were dying. Selfishly, I was even more angry about the sacrifices that my family and I had to make. No more weekend date nights or get-togethers with friends, no vacations, no school or playdates for my children and there were no more escapes to the arcades and indoor playgrounds on those painful rainy days.  

Dr. Evan Cohen and his family

I stopped at the guilt stage during a frightening two weeks when my parents developed Covid. My father recovered very quickly, but as my mother’s illness lingered, I kept seeing her face superimposed onto my patients in the emergency department. I was constantly thinking about the possibility of someone so important to me lying in a hospital bed alone and with no effective treatments available. The worst part as a son and emergency doctor was that there was nothing that I could do other than call her every few hours to make sure her breathing wasn’t labored. After that experience, the Covid-related depression was almost a relief. It didn’t matter much that I am trained to recognize the risk factors for depression and get people help when they need it. I could only feel positive for so long while thinking about all that had been taken away from me, there was no end in sight. I remember leaving an interview I gave on Covid-related depression and feeling so hypocritical telling people how to try and battle the same gloom that I was feeling.

What kept me going during that time was the incredible support that I and my colleagues received from our community. As an ER doctor, I feel like I’ve been trained to deal with anything and anybody that comes through my doors. Having trained in Camden, New Jersey and worked all over the east coast of this country, nothing could shake or surprise me and I was proud of that. Many times, I was so good at separating emotion from reality that I forgot the value of my work. As a heartfelt reminder, our staff received countless letters of gratitude and witnessed several “drive-by” parades organized by the community. The hospital played “Fight Song” on the loudspeaker every time a Covid patient was discharged, a moment that always sent a shiver down my spine! I pray that every health care worker felt as appreciated as I did during those months.    

The summer offered me a much needed respite and life almost felt normal. My mood was tied to the case count and as cases trended down in my community, I was able to spend time with my extended family, take my children to the playground and pool club. I would go days at a time without seeing a Covid patient at work.  Now, with the summer in the rear view mirror and the weather getting too cold to play outside, I’ve reached the acceptance phase, although I’ve had to go through many of these painful phases again on my way here.  

I accept that Covid is real and won’t disappear if we just wish hard enough. I accept that many more people will get sick and die and I accept that there will be sacrifices this winter. I also accept that myself contracting Covid is not inevitable and that I have some control over how things work out.  

Nationwide, we are seeing the exponential spread of this illness come back with a vengeance.  As case counts reach a critical level, the internal calculus we have been doing has changed.  Chances are that any time there is any gathering of more than just a few people, there will be someone in the crowd with Covid. We are back to all Covid all the time. The biggest public health threat, hospital overcrowding, is happening again.  

I appreciate that it seems like fewer people are dying and going on ventilators compared to last spring. The best explanation I can come up with for this is complex but I think is partially related to the amazing work of the scientific community in narrowing down and creating effective therapeutics. Dedicated scientists were able to figure out in short order that hydroxychloroquine, early ventilator use and azithromycin were out and remdesivir, steroids, and blood thinners were in. I feel optimistic about the new arrival of monoclonal antibodies. Despite all of these drugs, the most important factor that I see is the availability of nurses and other health care workers to be adequately staffed to care for the large numbers of Covid patients in the hospitals. This just cannot be overstated for any medical condition that requires a high intensity of care! For anyone that has recovered from surgery or serious illness, you know how important it is to take your medications on time, eat nutritious foods, be clean, communicate with loved ones and be able to walk. One of my health care heroes, a nurse colleague, donated countless hours last spring cleaning soiled patients and feeding them. those being the most essential tools in her toolkit. Those simple but crucial things just can’t happen without adequate staffing in hospitals.  

Now, from standing on what I hope is the precipice, I see two futures. In one dark world, we have not learned from the mistakes of the past. Our Ids control our superego and we do what feels good. After all, it feels good to eat in a restaurant, to hang out with our friends, and to see our families. In this future, I see our schools closing down and my five-year-old son unable to sit still for Zoom kindergarten. I see my three-year-old daughter deprived of seeing her best friend and unable to get the amazing nurturing experience and growth she has been given this year at her nursery school. I see the death tolls rolling up. I see my colleagues in medicine going back into that dark place of last spring. In the other (brighter) future, I see us all banding back together the way we did in April. We can be supportive of each other during this time and simply do better at keeping the virus at bay.  I do not accept that we have given our best effort at controlling this pandemic.    

I believe that to act with conviction, you must first understand your WHY. My WHY with Covid is mainly driven by fear. I have a fear of my friends and family getting sick, of my children not being able to go to school, overcrowded hospitals and of coming down with a debilitating case of Covid just days before I was scheduled to receive the vaccine. I will never claim that my Covid behavior is perfect, but any sacrifices that I make are with those visions in mind. I know that everyone has different motivations in their lives; nevertheless I hope and believe that many of our WHYs are aligned.  

Whatever your goals and motivations, we have a path forward in this together. And, thanks to the knowledge we have now in terms of mask wearing and physical distancing, we can do better. On the other side of this peak will be hundreds of millions of miraculous life-saving vaccines. Out of this tragedy, it’s possible that the Covid vaccines will offer the most impactful gift that the house of medicine has ever given to humanity. 

As the winter rolls in and we get an influx of young adults home from college and a line-up of holidays that traditionally foster large gatherings, all that I ask is for all of us to realize what is at stake and how close we are to being on the other side of this mountain. I hope to see all of you when we get there.

Dr. Evan Cohen is originally from Rockland County, New York and obtained a B.S degree from Syracuse University. He obtained his medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse New York and completed an emergency medicine residency at Cooper University Hospital in Camden New Jersey. Currently, he is serving as a medical director and practicing emergency physician in Orange County New York. He lives with his wife and two children in Chappaqua, New York.

 

Parents Challenge Vaccine Exemptions

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Chwatko reads her statement at a recent Board of Education meeting
PHOTO BY LEAH ALANI

A parent who spoke at a recent Board of Education (BOE) shed light on the issue of vaccination exemptions in the Chappaqua Central School District (CCSD). The parent, Robin Chwatko, has a daughter attending Roaring Brook Elementary School who is undergoing chemotherapy and is immuno-compromised.

Chwatko was joined by several parents at the meeting who want additional transparency from the district with regards to vaccine exemptions. Under New York State law all children attending public schools must be vaccinated except if they are claiming a medical or religious exemption. However, individual schools are allowed to grant religious or medical exemptions at their own discretion. In her statement before the BOE, Chwatko asserted that “it is imperative that a system is in place to not only properly vet and approve legitimate exemptions but to subsequently alert families and staff when there are unvaccinated children at their school, in their classroom and on their buses.”

The Challenge of Validating Religious Beliefs

Hilary Steuer Grasso, a mother with a child in the district and an education lawyer, noted that the “onus is on the school district to validate the claim of the sincerely held religious belief.” This came about from a 2010 decision by the Commissioner of Education in New York State. According to the decision, whether or not a religious belief is sincerely held can be a difficult factual determination that must be made, in the first instance, by school district officials. A parent/guardian must submit a written and signed statement to the school district stating that the parent/guardian objects to the child’s immunization due to sincere and genuine religious beliefs which prohibit the immunization of their child. After reviewing the parental statement, if questions still remain, the principal or another person in charge of the school may request supporting documents.

Recent media coverage has shown that some parents are claiming religious exemptions when they might simply be opposed to vaccinations for other reasons. For example, many parents fear vaccinations may cause autism despite that this has been debunked in the medical community. Just this past summer, Minnesota, which has a strong contingent of anti-vaccine activists, suffered the worst measles outbreak in decades. Other states such as California are now only permitting medical exemptions due to a rise in the number of purported religious exemptions.

Gaining Widespread Support from the Community

In addition to speaking before the BOE, Chwatko started a moveon.org petition requesting a committee be formed to create a uniform district wide policy for vetting vaccine exemptions and that parents and staff be alerted when an unvaccinated child is in a classroom, school or bus without revealing that child’s name. In the 48 hours since the petition went viral, it received 270 signatures from parents and concerned residents in the district. It is unclear how many children in the school district are receiving vaccination exemptions and the nature of those exemptions. An Inside Press inquiry received no further information as of press time.

Issue Looms Larger Than Just Immuno-Compromised Children

Chwatko is in a precarious situation because her son happens to be one of the rare cases, (about 10-20% of vaccinated kids), where lasting immunity cannot be obtained. Her petition and several parents on Facebook echoed that this is really a larger public health issue. In her petition, she wrote “And what about a pregnant teacher? Or a child with an infant sibling at home? It takes one bus ride, one drink from a shared water fountain, one cough at close range to put compromised people at immeasurable and unthinkable risk.”

Whether or not to vaccinate a child is a controversial issue for many parents. Acknowledging this, Chwatko noted that “no parent vaccinates their child with unbridled enthusiasm – we do it because vaccinations are scientifically proven to protect the health of our own kids and the kids in our community. It is not only a legal obligation to vaccinate your child, but a moral one as well. There is no question that any child who can safely be vaccinated should be, period.” In her petition, Chwatko continued that “with every unvaccinated child that enters our schools, herd immunity is weakened and our entire community, students and staff alike, are needlessly exposed. “

Ellen Lestz, M.D., a pediatrician with White Plains Hospital Medical and Wellness in Armonk commented that “the importance of vaccinations can not be overstated. It is very important to vaccinate every child against communicable diseases. Diseases such as measles and chicken pox are very contagious and because we don’t see these as much anymore we fail to grasp their seriousness. For example, while measles and chicken pox can cause a rash, they can also lead to fatal neurological conditions. We need to understand the complications of these diseases in order to stress the importance of these vaccines.”

The petition clearly states that it is not forcing parents to vaccinate their children or “outing” unvaccinated children. Several parents who signed the petition commented that they want the district to take a similar stance on unvaccinated children as the district does to children with food allergies. Letters are sent home at the beginning of the school year stating specific food allergies in a classroom without revealing the child’s name. It is unclear if similar letters will be distributed regarding unvaccinated children at this time.