Staffers at pandemic-plagued Queens hospital are inoculated

Two staffers at Elmhurst Hospital Center, one of the hardest-hit sites during the pandemic, received COVID vaccinations on Wednesday as the city braced for a possible major shutdown in the coming days.

Veronica “Ronny” Delgado, lead physician in the Queens hospital’s emergency department, and service aide William Kelly got their shots at a news conference with Mayor de Blasio presiding.

“I feel very privileged to be one of the first to get the vaccine,” Delgado said.

She also urged people “not to be afraid of the vaccine and not to get information off of Facebook,” a nod to the fact that 25% of Americans don’t want to get vaccinated, according to a recent poll from The Associated Press.

“I hope everybody gets the vaccine,” Kelly said. “It’s good to take it.”

The choice of location for the event was filled with symbolic importance.

Elmhurst Hospital Center was overwhelmed by COVID patients in the spring, with 13 people dying there on a grim day in March — a milestone at the time.

City Health and Hospitals did not immediately answer an inquiry about total COVID figures at the site.

“One of the toughest battles in the United States of America against the coronavirus happened here,” de Blasio said. Health and hospitals “saved New York City.”

More than 1,600 health care workers in the city have received the vaccine since the first batch of doses reached the Big Apple on Monday morning, according to de Blasio, a rate expected to go up as the city receives more of the coveted cargo in the coming weeks.

The city had 2,785 new COVID cases Tuesday, bringing the latest average infection rate over a seven-day period to 5.71%.

“If we don’t see a turnaround, there will have to be deeper restrictions,” Hizzoner said.