LONG ISLAND, NY — With the pool of individuals eligible for the coronavirus vaccination widening Tuesday, one physician assistant who works in a Long Island urgent care facility told Patch that it's just too little, too late: Both she, her mother, and her two children have now tested positive for COVID-19.
Jennifer* — who asked that her real name and urgent care not be given for fear of losing her job — said since the pandemic began in March, she has seen and screened almost 5,000 patients at the urgent care facility where she works. And yet, when the first vaccines were distributed in December, she and her urgent care colleagues weren't able to receive dosages because they were not affiliated with a hospital, she said.
Jennifer's experience in the medical field and her ties to her fellow medical professionals runs deep: She worked in the emergency rooms for 20 years, including at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead. But despite her dedication to her profession and loyalty to her patients, she is outraged at a vaccination rollout that she said left her and her colleagues out in the cold.
"If urgent cares had been given the vaccine sooner, I probably would not have infected my whole family, including my 85-year old mom," she said.
The first vaccine was administered on Long Island on December 14 and Jennifer said she was not able to receive a dosage until December 28. But the day before her vaccination on January 2, she tested positive for COVID-19 on New Year's Day.
Meanwhile, hospital workers with no direct patient care were given the vaccination weeks before she was, she said.
And she's not the only one: A pediatrician who had been treating children for months was unable to get the vaccine because he had no hospital affiliation; a physician who worked for the police department was not eligible until the new rollout of 1b on Monday, she said.
"Since March I have screened more than 4,800 people in urgent care," she said. "People who are sick go to urgent care first. So when I heard the vaccine was coming out, I was waiting with bated breath."
Her mother had been in a rehab facility for six weeks, recovering, alone, from a fracture and unable to see her family due to the pandemic. She returned to the home she shares with Jennifer and her children on December 22.
By January 1, Jennifer's mother also tested positive for COVID-19.
"We've all been so careful, waiting for the vaccine. And I am not one to jump at new medications, but I see such a high volume of patients, I knew it was a ticking time bomb. I knew it was just a matter of time," Jennifer said.
Jennnifer said she loves her profession. But she never thought when she studied to be a physician assistant, ready to give up the overnight hours in the ER, that she would be literally risking her life, and the lives of her children and mother.
"Both my children have COVID," she said. "My mom, 85, has COVID. My mother-in-law has COVID."
Friends who came over on New Year's Eve for a toast and a socially distanced walk on the beach are now quarantined; one cannot see her mother, who is 80. "It's not just me and my family," Jennifer said. "Now this affects other families. It's endless."
Even if she had been able to receive the first dosage when it was released, it would have helped, Jennifer said. "I am livid."
She added that she believes Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other elected officials on the federal level "decided we didn't need the vaccine, despite the fact that we are still screening patients."
Jennifer was tested for coronavirus on Jan. 1, because she had her vaccination scheduled for Jan. 2. On New Year's Eve, she'd developed a non-stop cough that lingered for an hour. "It was so scary," she said. But tea with honey helped. The next day, she had a headache but attributed it to the drink she'd had on New Year's Eve.
Ten hours into her shift on New Year's Day, Jennifer felt achy and had a rapid coronavirus test. "I came up positive right away," she said.
She told her employer and was then unable to get her vaccination the next day.
One by one, her two sons and her mother tested positive; her mother-in-law also developed a 102-degree fever, she said.
Jennifer said, having worked in hospitals for years, she realizes front line workers should absolutely be vaccinated first. "But there are people in the hospital with no patient contact. People in administration," she said.
And the anger is a bitter pill to swallow after decades of selfless dedication.
"I am furious," Jennifer said. "My mother could have died. I am furious that my mother's life was put at risk — and it could have been prevented."
Surgeons, she said, do not touch patients without them being screened first. "You know who's screening patients? I am," she said. "I am so angry."
Jennifer also believes urgent care staffers aren't treated with the same respect, despite their level of expertise.
After leaving her prior career, she went back to school and studied medicine, hoping to help people at the time who were dying of AIDS.
Jennifer put in the long hours in the ER, set up her own office, and has worked hard and long for years to help others and give back. But when the vaccinations were rolled out, she and her colleagues, on the front lines at every urgent care, were initially left out, she said.
"I'm a humble person. I don't need any praise," she said. "But when this vaccine rollout happened, it was like, 'You're nothing. You're only urgent care.' It doesn't matter that you worked for 20 years in the ER and many people working in urgent care are retired ER doctors and nurses, who are alleviating the burden right now on the ERs." She paused, voice filling with tears. "It was a slap in the face."
Funeral directors were able to be vaccinated before she was, Jennifer said. "It just doesn't make sense," she added.
Jennifer, a single mother, said her children have only one parent. "What if I die? Then my kids have no parents," she said. "I am just very, very angry. It's a complete disgrace."
To the politicians who allowed urgent care workers to linger at the back of the line, Jennifer has a message: "Shame on you," she said.
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