COVID-19 Vaccinations Begin At Elmhurst Hospital, Once The Epicenter Of NYC's Pandemic

The moment lasted only a few minutes, two seemingly painless pricks, but it was followed by a long and rousing standing ovation that drew a long line of proud and elated hospital workers.

On Wednesday morning, William Kelley, 62, and Veronica Delgado, 65, became the first healthcare staffers to be vaccinated against coronavirus at Elmhurst hospital, marking the very first vaccinations in New York City's public hospital system.

"It feels like the first bit of sunlight in the morning after a very dark and frightening night," Delgado said afterwards.

She said she felt "very privileged" to be among the first of her colleagues to receive Pfizer's vaccine, which hospitals across the country began distributing on Monday.

Of the 11 city hospitals, which primarily serve low-income and minority communities, Elmhurst had been the hardest hit during the early weeks of the crisis. The 545-bed Queens hospital, located in one of the city's most diverse immigrant neighborhoods, had seen overflowing waiting rooms and makeshift ICUs. The hospital was so besieged by the virus that it came to be known as "the epicenter of the epicenter."

More than 24,000 New York City residents have died from coronavirus.

For Delgado, a physician's assistant in the Emergency Department, and Kelley, a service aide who performs housekeeping duties, the experience was unlike anything they had ever witnessed.

Kelley said he had waited so long for a vaccine to finally become available. During the spring, he had hunkered in the basement of his home in Jamaica, Queens to keep his family safe.

Asked how he was chosen, he joked that he was a "big celebrity" at the hospital. He has worked at Elmhurst for 23 years. At one point he had even retired, but then came back.

Following the shot, Kelley, who is Black, said, "I hope everybody takes it."

City health officials have been especially concerned about vaccine hesitancy in the Black community, given the legacy of racist and exploitive healthcare treatments.

By Wednesday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that more than 1,600 hospitals workers in New York City had been given the first of the two-dose shot. The number of those vaccinated is expected to ramp up quickly, he added. Including the anticipated shipments of the Moderna vaccine, which is set to be approved this week, the city is planning to administer 465,000 doses over the next few weeks.

Those who receive the initial shots will be given a second shot in three weeks.

As with the first vaccination on Monday at NYU Langone Hospital, the mayor was on hand to deliver ceremonial remarks as well as take questions from the press.

More than the two prior publicized hospital vaccinations in the city, which included the very first performed in the country at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, Wednesday's event felt poignant given the central role Elmhurst and the other hospitals in the NYC Health & Hospitals system have played in fighting the coronavirus.

Like its counterparts across the country, the city's public hospitals have struggled under shrinking state and federal funding as well as a declining number of patients coupled with growing pool of uninsured or underinsured. In 2016, the mayor's office declared the hospital system was "on the edge of a financial cliff" and proceeded to restructure and invest billions of dollars over the next several years.

On Wednesday, de Blasio called the funding "some of the best money we ever spent." During the pandemic, the public hospitals "saved New York City," he said.

Now, with New York City in the grips of a second wave, Elmhurst and others are once again witnessing an alarming surge of COVID patients.

But both city and state officials have stressed that the current situation at hospitals is far less overwhelming than it was in March and April. Treatments have improved, resulting in better outcomes and shorter hospital stays.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, the chief operating officer of Health and Hospitals, on Wednesday said there were now 280 coronavirus patients across its 11 hospitals, leaving about one third of total beds available.

At the peak, the public hospital system was treating roughly 4,000 patients infected with COVID-19.

In another difference, the number of regular patients had not dropped as they did in the spring, when doctors warned people to stay away from hospitals except for the most dire emergencies.

But hospitalizations across the five boroughs have been steadily rising, with around 200 people a day being admitted to hospitals with COVID-like symptoms—the highest level since May. The city's hospitalization rate per 100,000 of newly admitted patients has inched upward for the last two weeks.

Mayor de Blasio has warned New Yorkers to prepare for a full shutdown of non-essential businesses similar to one issued in March. That decision is left to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has also said such a measure might become necessary.

The city's health commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, said those being admitted were similar to those who were hospitalized in the spring: older New Yorkers and those with underlying medical conditions like diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

"Those are the things that predispose one to not just getting infected but unfortunately having the symptoms that we really worry about," such as difficulty breathing, he said.

That both of the Elmhurst hospital workers chosen to be vaccinated first were over 60 reflected the demographic health officials have especially targeted with their messaging. Earlier this month, Chokshi issued an advisory urging adults over 65, along with people with underlying health conditions, and those who are household members or caregivers of those individuals who are at risk for COVID-related illness to stay at home as much as possible.

During the press conference, Delgado and Kelley more than once fielded questions about their ages.

Kelley at one point pretended not to hear the question, which drew laughter from the crowd.

He then replied, "I'm young."