Bath mayor secures vaccine clinic for tiny borough’s residents
Since the first mention of vaccine distribution hit the ground in the U.S., Bath Mayor Fiorella Reginelli Mirabito has worked the phones to see if any providers could secure a special batch for her small Northampton County borough.
When the coronavirus ripped through her own family in January, the emotional toll it wrought only added fuel to her fire.
So did the lottery-like atmosphere the hunt for vaccines has turned into for many Lehigh Valley residents.
“This is absurd,” she said, herself the recipient of phone calls from seniors unable to secure their own spots. “What is happening here?”
Last Friday, she got a phone call from a friend who manages local Rite Aid pharmacies, who told her she could secure about 300 doses.
Mirabito immediately placed calls to find a local space to host a clinic, and the Bath Social Hall offered its space for free this Saturday.
She at first advertised the clinic on social media for borough residents only, but promised to open it to the general neighboring public Tuesday evening. All told, by Wednesday morning, her office phone line got 768 calls.
She booked 320 appointments, including a follow-up shot in April. Thirty-two are on a waiting list in case people cancel.
“I just wanted to do something for my residents,” she said. She hopes to host another one in May.
The virus has brought her personal tragedy, too. Though her local family survived, albeit with hospitalizations, two relatives in Italy died, at 68 and 71 years old. For her, it has only driven home the urgent need for vaccines.
Her family won’t be able to get them this time around, though, since they’ve had antibody infusion in the last 90 days.
“So I’ll just be standing there saying ‘hi,’ ” at the clinic, she said. “But that’s OK.”