Credit New York National Guard / flickr.com
Onondaga County vaccine clinics will start using the Johnson & Johnson shot again, starting with a Friday clinic at Fabius Community Center. The county had suspended use of the single-dose vaccine as the FDA and CDC investigated the few cases of rare blood clots following vaccination. Health Commissioner Doctor Indu Gupta said the federal warning and pause should instill confidence, not raise concern. It means that if there are problems, they are going to continue to come back and will say that ‘Okay there’s a problem here. Let’s pause, and let’s try to assess.’ So if anything this should give more confidence in the people in the system. Not less,” said Gupta.
Spectrum News / WXXI News
BREAKING FRIDAY MORNING: The National Guard has identified those killed in Wednesday night s crash of a military helicopter in Mendon, outside Rochester. They were Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven Skoda, 54, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Christian Koch, 39, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Daniel Prial, 30.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven Skoda
Credit New York National Guard
Skoda was described as a 35-year veteran of the Army and the New York Army National Guard who was single and lived in Rochester. He served in the Active Army 1985-1987. He joined the National Guard 1987. He also earned numerous medals and citations. Skoda was a veteran of the Afghanistan War who deployed there in 2013 and 2019, said a Guard press release. He was an experienced helicopter pilot who served as a UH-60 senior instructor pilot and an instrument flight instructor and a UH-60 maintenance test pilot. He had almost 5,000 flying hours.