Vaxmobile visits Freeport Recreation Center

The Town of Hempstead’s Vaxmobile, the first mobile Covid-19 vaccination unit in the state, stopped by the Freeport Recreation Center to vaccinate local residents on April 12. 

The Vaxmobile is a partnership project between the town and Mount Sinai South Nassau to bring vaccines to underserved communities throughout Hempstead. The vehicle, a fitted bus equipped with vaccination and healthcare equipment, is also staffed with bilingual health professionals. 

The mobile unit is vital, Clavin said, because widespread vaccination cannot be achieved without “getting into every community, and this mobile unit’s going to start that process.”

The Town of Hempstead used CARES Act funding to pay for the vehicle. 

To make an appointment with the Vaxmobile or check where it will be stopping, call (516)-812-3678 or email vaxmobile@snch.org. 

Additional vaccinations came to Freeporters through a partnership between Nassau County, State Senator Kevin Thomas and Catholic Health Services to vaccinate 200 residents at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre on April 5. 

The vaccination was targeted to vulnerable communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic like Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt and Uniondale. 

“Equitable access to the vaccine remains my priority and these targeted vaccine distributions are key to reaching our minority communities and vulnerable populations,” County Executive Laura Curran said. ““Community-based vaccine pods are essential in bringing the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine to those who have been hardest hit by the virus.”  

Freeport continues to be the third-hardest hit community in the county, with nearly 5,800 confirmed cases as of April 11, according to the County Department of Health. 

National studies have shown that majority-minority communities like Freeport have had higher rates of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths than predominantly white communities since the pandemic began last March, and in November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that African-Americans were 1.4 times more likely to contract Covid-19 than whites, 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized for the virus and 2.8 percent more likely to die from it.

Residents of these communities often work in essential businesses and are at higher risk of exposure. In Freeport, more than 4,200 residents worked in health care support services in 2018, roughly 2,300 worked in sales and more than 2,200 worked in education services, according to census data.

To check on vaccination efforts throughout the county, visit https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/vaccine.