Eastport-South Manor teachers, staff get COVID-19 shots
As people go through all sorts of difficulties to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine, the Eastport-South Manor Central School District inoculated some 300 teachers and staff during a "Vaccination Day" Saturday.
Mass vaccinations for school staff remain rare these days due to the scarcity of vaccine, but Superintendent Joseph Steimel said he hit the jackpot when he started making inquiries as soon as school staff were permitted to get the shot on Jan. 11. Long Island Urgent Care came through and was able to get the doses from the state, he said.
There was an urgency to do this, considering the pressure to keep schools open and safe, Steimel said, adding that the anxiety among teachers and staff has grown along with the infection rates and news of virus mutations.
"This will make people feel more comfortable coming to work," said Steimel, who rolled up his own sleeve for a shot in the gym of the district's junior-senior high school. "Certainly there will be less concern and anxiety."
Jodi Messin, a speech pathologist at Dayton Avenue Elementary School in Manorville, wearing a mask that said "Teach Love Inspire," was among those who walked up to the long white tables spread across the gym. She then took one arm out of her red sweatshirt and received her inoculation, or as some people call it the "Fauci Ouchie" in honor of Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical adviser on COVID-19.
"I guess I feel a little more protected coming to work," said Messin of Plainview, adding she was grateful the district set it up. "It made it really convenient because it's been so hard to get the shot."
Schools cannot mandate staff take the COVID-19 vaccine, and Steimel said that about two-thirds of the workers either participated in Saturday's event or have scheduled a shot on their own. School nurses worked with the staff of the urgent care to administer the coveted injections. The staff will get their second of the two injections in a month in the same way, he said.
Eastport-South Manor Central School District staff members wait 15 minutes before leaving after receiving COVID-19 shots at Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School on Saturday. Credit: Randee Daddona
Dr. Melina Khwaja, spokeswoman for Long Island Urgent Care, said that ever since word got out of this event, "My email box is full of superintendents from all over Suffolk County" wanting to stage a similar "Vaccination Day."
Eric Censoprano said he is a computer tech in the district, so he goes all over the schools, class to class, talking to everyone. He said he has been constantly washing my hands and wearing a mask.
"I'm happy to be getting my shot. My mom had to go to New Jersey to get hers," said Censoprano of East Northport.
"It will lighten the mood up a little bit," he said.
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Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
