Church teams up with officer to register seniors for COVID-19 vaccine appointments

A Bronx police officer is helping the most vulnerable people in the city get their coronavirus vaccines.

News 12 Staff

Jan 21, 2021, 1:44 PM

Updated 1,361 days ago

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A Bronx police officer is helping the most vulnerable people in the city get their coronavirus vaccines.
Officer Sean Liscoe, a parishioner at St. Barnabas Church, works with a priest to help the elderly get vaccinated.
He says many seniors want the potentially life-saving vaccine but they have trouble registering for appointments.
Liscoe says many seniors who live in his neighborhood don’t have access to a computer or don’t know how to use one.
He works with a parish priest to register seniors who feel they have been left in the dark.
The officer says they have received more than 130 inquiries and have made about 60 appointments so far.
Liscoe, however, says sometimes the online registration has taken hours and the earliest appointment he could get for at least one senior was the first week of March.
He says the city should be doing more to assist people 65 and older who want to sign up for vaccines in the neighborhood.
Liscoe is arranging transportation for seniors to get to vaccination sites. He says nurses have also volunteered to shuttle them.
New York City did announce a vaccine working group dedicated to senior outreach in the neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has also announced that starting this week, seniors 65 or older in need of transportation to and from vaccination sites can get help from the city.
Seniors will be asked if they need a ride at city-operated sites over the phone or through outreach. They will then be screened and directed to transportation options.
The city is also set to offer about 10,000 rides a week.
New York City also has a vaccination hotline for residents to use.