Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine And RIDA Give Out Free Covid Self Testing Kits And Hand Sanitizers At Farmers Market Last Saturday - BP President Levine Urges Roosevelt Island Residents To Protect Yourself From Covid And Get Vaccine Booster

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association (RIOC) handed out free Covid 19 self testing kits and hand sanitizers at the Farmers Market in Good Shepherd Plaza last Saturday.

RIDA President Wendy Hersh reports that over 400 of the Covid home testing kits and hand sanitizers were distributed on Saturday.

Manhattan Borough President Levine also encouraged Roosevelt Island residents to be vaccinated and to get your Covid booster shots.

The NY Times has more information on Covid 19 booster shots.

In a sign of growing concern about the spread of new coronavirus infections, the CDC is now saying that all people 50 or older should get a second booster shot if at least four months have passed since their first booster dose. https://t.co/2G25x4QEmX

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 21, 2022

According to a May 19, 2022 statement from the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): 

CDC is expanding eligibility of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to everyone 5 years of age and older. CDC now recommends that children ages 5 through 11 years should receive a booster shot 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series. Since the pandemic began, more than 4.8 million children ages 5 through 11 have been diagnosed with COVID-19, 15,000 have been hospitalized and, tragically, over 180 have died. As cases increase across the country, a booster dose will safely help restore and enhance protection against severe disease.

In addition, today CDC is strengthening its recommendation that those 12 and older who are immunocompromised and those 50 and older should receive a second booster dose at least 4 months after their first. Over the past month we have seen steady increases in cases, with a steep and substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans. While older Americans have the highest coverage of any age group of first booster doses, most older Americans received their last dose (either their primary series or their first booster dose) many months ago, leaving many who are vulnerable without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death.

Whether it is your first booster, or your second, if you haven’t had a vaccine dose since the beginning of December 2021 and you are eligible, now is the time to get one.

UPDATE 5/24:

Covid has fallen out of the news. But NYC's wave is continuing to grow, with increasing hospitalizations.

Remember Health Dept guidance: get boosted, mask indoors, test regularly, seek treatment if positive, stay home if sick.

It's as true as ever: you don't want to catch this. pic.twitter.com/h9YYQacDyG

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) May 24, 2022