Vax cuts fear for school aides Hit harder than teachers by virus
Gov gets a s hot & Rangel boost
Brooklyn school paraprofessional MaryAnne Petrozzo was nervous about taking the COVID vaccine when she became eligible in January. But when memories of the virus’ devastating impact on city paraprofessionals came flooding back, she decided she had no choice.
“Lots of paras died ... there are people with really bad lingering effects from it,” said Petrozzo, a paraprofessional at Public School 204 in Bensonhurst who battled COVID last spring and took months to recover.
“I was pretty sick and I thought, ‘I can’t do this again,’ ” she said.
The arrival of COVID vaccines carries extra significance for the city’s 25,000 school paraprofessionals, who died at a rate four times higher than their Education Department colleagues last spring.
Paraprofessionals are classroom aides who work closely with students with disabilities and support teachers.
Some paraprofessionals, including Petrozzo, see the vaccine as a much-needed shot of reassurance about the safety of in-person work that’s often upclose and physical.
“Having the vaccine ... I’m not afraid anymore,” she said.
But there’s still little data how many paraprofessionals have gotten the jab — and some are still grappling with fears about the vaccines and scrambling to get appointments.
Several paraprofessionals told the Daily News that while they see the vaccine circulating widely among teachers, the rollout has been slower for paraprofessionals.
“I know the teachers have” gotten a vaccine, “but I haven’t heard any of the paras tell me that they have gotten it,” said Sarah Deme, a longtime paraprofessional at an elementary school in East Harlem.
Deme has a medical accommodation to work remotely because of hypertension and obesity that put her at a higher risk for COVID.
She is hoping for a chance to get the shot, but said she hasn’t been able to sign up for an appointment yet.
Education Department officials have encouraged staffers working from home to wait for vaccine appointments so that spots remain open for school staffers working in person.
“I’m still working on trying to get an appointment because they were giving it to people in the building first,” Deme said.
City officials estimated last month that 30,000 teachers, administrators, social workers and counselors have been vaccinated at city-run sites. But the figures did not include paraprofessionals — and Education Department officials haven’t provided an estimate of how many paras have been inoculated.
Paraprofessionals are more likely than teachers to be out on medical accommodation, with 36% working remotely compared with 28% of teachers, the Education Department said.
The United Federation of Teachers is operating its own vaccination program, and says 4,200 of the 34,000 members who matched with a health care provider to set up an appointment — about 12% — are paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals make up about 14% of the union’s active membership.
Petrozzo said she appreciated the fact that the union offered a phone hotline in addition to online signups.
“Not everybody is an online person,” added Deme, who is also trying to secure an appointment through the union program’s phone hotline.
The demographics of the city’s more than 20,000 paraprofessionals reflect those of the populations hit hardest by the virus — and for whom the vaccine rollout has been the slowest.
Two-thirds of paraprofessionals — whose salaries start at $26,000 — are Black or Latino. Just over one-third of city teachers — whose salaries start at more than $60,000 — are Black or Latino.
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo, facing mounting calls for his resignation and mounting sexual harassment allegations, flashed a thumbs up Wednesday after getting vaccinated against COVID and receiving glowing praise from former Rep. Charles Rangel. The governor got a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a popup clinic at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem, where Rangel (D-Harlem) and others rallied around the embattled governor. “When people start piling up on you ... you go to your family and you go to your friends because you know that they are going to be with you,” the 90-year-old retired lawmaker said. “Due process and hearing is basically what we believe in in this country.”
Rangel, at times raising his cane in emphasis, applauded Assemblywoman Inez Dickens (D-Harlem) for supporting the governor and summarized a statement she issued that said “back off until you’ve got some facts.”
Multiple women have made allegations of sexual harassment or unwanted advances against Cuomo, leading to an independent review being conducted by Attorney General Letitia James’ office and an impeachment investigation in the Assembly. Many of Cuomo’s own Democrats have questioned whether he can continue to lead the state through the COVID crisis and ongoing budget negotiations as he faces several scandals at once.