Office of Rep. Greg Meeks
Rep. Gregory Meeks refers to himself as an “elected official by accident,” though he’s been a public servant from a young age.
Growing up in East Harlem, Meeks says he was inspired by the civil rights movement and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to attend Howard University School of Law and eventually become an attorney.
Prior to running for public office, Meeks worked as a Queens County assistant district attorney, a prosecutor for a special anti-narcotics task force, and a chief administrative judge for New York state’s worker compensation system.
In 1992, he was elected to the state Assembly, and in 1998 he won a special election to represent New York’s Fifth Congressional District. While in office, Meeks has co-chaired the National Democratic Congressional Committee Trade Task Force and has chaired the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. In the upcoming session, Meeks will become the first Afr
arrow The Brookdale University Medical Center line Fred Mogul / Gothamist / WNYC
Freezing weather couldn’t stop 77-year-old Betsey Smith from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, even though it meant waiting more than two hours outside Brookdale University Medical Center in Brownsville, Brooklyn. She was one of hundreds of people on line. It s not too bad you just have to move your legs to keep warm, said Smith, an African-American woman who lives in nearby East New York. I know some people say they re not going to take this COVID vaccine, but I think it s important.”
In a bid to aid equitable access and combat vaccine hesitancy, Brookdale is trying an open-line approach rather than the pre-registered appointments system used by other hospitals.
Hesitant Health Care Workers Are Slowing Down Vaccine Uptake
arrow NYC Mayor s Office
New York City hospital administrators always knew that some members of the general public would hesitate to get coronavirus vaccines, but they anticipated that resistance among their own employees would be modest. After all, their staff all work in the medical arena, and many see themselves as guardians of science.
But to the surprise of many New York health care leaders, more than half of their eligible employees have so far declined to get inoculated. It s taken me off guard, said LaRay Brown, the CEO of One Brooklyn Health, a network of three hospitals in central Brooklyn. I would ve thought with so many people having seen, having experienced, lived through, cared for patients with COVID that we would ve had a much more enthusiastic response initially and it hasn t been.