It is seven in the morning and little by little neighbors from Sunset Park are arriving at the Mixteca community organization. They all work in restaurants and are going to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
“They did their part, which was to make the list so that when vaccines were available we could schedule appointments,” said Lorena Kourousias, executive director, Mixteca. “What we are doing today is saying that we are here to prevent more deaths, what we want is for our community to be safe.”
And is that some of these 30 immigrants tried to make the appointment on their own but did not succeed. In Mixteca they helped them.
“My daughter was trying to make an appointment but couldn’t,” said Eleazar Rodríguez, a restaurant worker. “There were no appointments, so we were actually trying to make appointments for all of our coworkers.”
From here they take the bus that this community organization got them to transport them to the Medgar Evers College vaccination center in Brooklyn.
After queuing, they went in together to receive the Moderna vaccine and also had an interpretation service from the entity.
And it is that the Mixteca organization asks that within these vaccination centers there also be personnel who speak other languages, including the different indigenous languages.
“It was a great support for us, many of us as migrants cannot speak English … There are colleagues who do not have the happiness to speak in Spanish,” said Manuel Yacón.
In the end, they all wear their vaccination cards and are happy to already have an appointment for the second dose, something they say they would not have been able to do if they had not helped them in the process.
“We needed the help and it is not easy. For us it is already being a little more forewarned,” said Alberto Rodríguez.
Mixteca now plans to arrange appointments for new neighborhood groups and guide them through the process.
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