By Walter Elliott
MAPLEWOOD – Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union Local 108 officials, after 2 p.m. May 11, can say they are doing their part in getting people their COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus vaccines.
Local 108, in league with Essex County, “Local Talk” and other partners, had helped vaccinate 65 people who came to their headquarters here at 1576 Springfield Ave., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday.
The headquarters parking lot, like with their previous community food distributions, was turned into a venue for two tents. One tent was where people who wanted to be vaccinated were screened before being let into the union’s conference room. The other tent was used as a seating area for those who took advantage of the free breakfast that was available.
Several Essex County Sheriff’s officers brought two of their trailers and a roadside message board to the lot. Some worked with Maplewood police officers to direct what traffic the “Vaccination Opportunity” had generated.
It was within RWDSU’s conference room where most of the county’s health department staff gave out a choice between the first-of-two-shot Moderna and the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Another headquarters room served as the 15-minute post inoculation waiting area before staff members sent patients out with county proof-of-vaccination cards. Those who got Moderna’s vaccine were given appointments for their second shot on their cards.
Those who made appointments or had walked in also had the opportunity for diabetes and glaucoma screening.
“If we got 10 people or 100, it was worth it,” Hall told “Local Talk” from his office May 13. “Our union wanted to make sure that our members, who are essential workers, and our community are safe.”
Hall talked with “Local Talk” before the event opened at 10 a.m. Tuesday and just before its 2 p.m. closing. The president of the AFL-CIO-affiliated local first sat under the breakfast tent, fielding phone calls and questions from organizers and prospective patients.
“Our members work in supermarkets, nursing homes, are teamsters (truckers) – essential workers,” explained Hall. “Many of them are from this area (Essex County), work in low-wage jobs and are black and brown.”
Some of Local 108’s members and their families had their work hours reduced or became unemployed soon after the global pandemic reached here in March 2020. Hall, his officers and partners started out distributing food bags this time last year.
The first food giveaway, which was opened to the greater community and May 11’s vaccination was a seasonal departure for Hall. He would normally be ramping up preparations for the annual Memorial Day African American Heritage Parade in Newark.
Other aspects of the pandemic, sickness and death, began to set in among Local 108 and other families in the pre-vaccine stage. It made the pandemic personal.
“There were weeks,” said Hall, “where I was attending funerals for members and families.”
Hall and Local Community Engagement and Outreach Liaison Taieta El-Amin, when the opportunity to get COVID vaccines arose, called Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Anibal Ramos, Jr. – the latter as the county’s director of citizen services.
DiVincenzo (D-Roseland) and Ramos (D-Newark) called Sheriff Armando Fontoura (D-Fairfield) to bring up some of the latter’s officers to support the vaccination event. Sheriff’s officers have been performing similar tasks across the county’s five regional COVID vaccination centers.
“I can’t thank DiVincenzo and Ramos enough for their help,” said Hall. “I want to thank our members’ companies to allow them to get vaccinated without losing a day’s pay. That includes City Supermarket, Supremo, Xtra and Pueblo.”
Hall and “Local Talk” were interrupted by a man who identified as an employer from up Springfield Avenue. He asked if his employees could get their shots here and if they had to pay anything.
“Bring them up – it’s free,” said Hall, “and have breakfast on us.”
Hall publicized the event through “Local Talk,” social media and word of mouth.” That announcement includes an educational element.
“I’m aware that some black and brown people are apprehensive about the vaccine,” said Hall. “There’s a history. My attitude is that vaccines can save lives and the lives of families and lives in the community.”
Local 108’s handbills included that “There have been over 237 million doses administered to date in the U.S.” President Joseph Biden aims to have 70 percent of the 330 million Americans vaccinated by July 1 for herd immunity.
Gov. Phil Murphy is looking for a similar state goal: more than six million of the state’s nine million residents.
Murphy, however, noted in his May 3 Coronavirus briefing May 3 that 16 of the state’s 565 municipalities have 40 percent or less of their populations vaccinated. Those municipalities of 10,000-plus residents include Newark, at 38 percent; Orange, 36; East Orange, 32 and Irvington, 29.
“This isn’t going to be a competition between towns or meant to shame any community,” said Murphy (D-Rumson). “Having these numbers out there for everyone to see is important to ensure that everyone is working and pulling together.”
“Those four towns you mentioned,” said Hall Tuesday afternoon, “are the ones where many of our members and their families live and work in.”
Murphy has meanwhile directed state, county and municipal level governments to reach out and into their underserved communities as part of his “Operation Jersey Summer.”
Essex County, for example, is among those who are switching gears. DiVincenzo, citing monthly regional vaccination rates dropping from 28,000 to 4,000 among all five regional centers, closed all but the Essex County College-Newark and former West Orange Kmart.
The county, instead, is partnering with the likes of Local 108 to bring the vaccinations to the neighborhoods.
Local 108 and the county will reopen their “Pop-Up” center here for May 11 patients who got their first Moderna shots. They are invited back for their second shots June 8. Details are to be announced.
