Mount Sinai South Nassau and Nassau County Launch Vaccination Pilot Program for Teachers and School Staff

300 Local Teachers, Staff Get First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

In an effort to help schools reopen, Mount Sinai South Nassau and Nassau County have launched a pilot program to vaccinate area teachers and school staff members from the Island Park, Long Beach, Oceanside, and Rockville Centre School Districts.

A joint initiative of Mount Sinai South Nassau, based in Oceanside, New York, and the Nassau County Department of Health, the Teacher’s Vaccination Pilot Program initially planned to vaccinate up to 300 teachers and staff this week, and more in the weeks ahead depending upon vaccine supply.

“We are using every tool available and taking every action necessary to prevent community spread of the virus and protect the residents of the communities we serve,” said Adhi Sharma, MD, Executive Vice President of Clinical and Professional Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at Mount Sinai South Nassau.  “We know that getting students and teachers back to full, in-person school instruction is paramount and this pilot program is essential to help normalize our schools.”

“I have been an advocate of in-person learning and I commend our school districts for all the work they have done this year to make that safely happen. Now, getting teachers and school faculty protected from this virus is key to keeping our kids in school. The Department of Health has already vaccinated thousands of our teachers, but we won’t stop until every Nassau educator who wants a shot gets one,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.

“Nassau County is proud to partner with Mount Sinai South Nassau to get another teacher vaccination effort rolling so we can get even more doses into our educators’ arms.”

Up to 300 teachers and staff from a selection of Nassau County school districts will receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine (by appointment only) today between 12 pm and 7 pm at Mount Sinai South Nassau’s COVID-19 Vaccination Center at 519 Merrick Rd. in Rockville Centre. Teachers who have not yet been vaccinated will be invited by their administrations to schedule appointments at the time that is most convenient for them. Mount Sinai South Nassau and Nassau County are planning future vaccination dates to inoculate more teachers and school staff, including those from additional districts, based on vaccine availability.

Scheduling, processing, and administration of the vaccinations will be completed by members of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s nursing and allied medical staff. The vaccines are provided by the Nassau County Department of Health.

The pilot program began after school superintendents from a number of districts reached out to the hospital’s administration for help getting teachers vaccinated. The hospital partnered with the Nassau County Health Department, which made more vaccines available specifically for this purpose.
 
About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence.  For more information, go to www.mountsinai.org/southnassau.