With over 1200 vaccinated, this weekend, Roosevelt Island scored a big community win. It closed out with demand so high on Sunday, organizers had to shut down the line at 4:00 p.m.
By David Stone
“Final count for today 777,” said Carter Burden Network supervisor Lisa Fernandez in an email on Sunday evening. Also, with an estimated 450 vaccinated Saturday, that took the total over 1,200 for the weekend.
A coalition including CBN, senior social services group DASH and the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association, partnered with Walgreens.
Walgreens filled the room with trained vaccinators, and as news spread, people lined up for Johnson & Johnson shots.

Unsung heroes…
Getting over 1200 vaccinated was possible only through the efforts of longtime blogger, the Roosevelt Islander.
“He made the connection with Walgreens and brought them to RISC/CBN and we ran with it in a very short time,” Fernandez said.
But there were more.
Along with management at Roosevelt Landings providing the space, RIOC’s Public Safety Department teamed with the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), staying “on top of crowd control, traffic flow and keeping things smooth with the waiting.”
Over 1200 vaccinated…
They were not all Roosevelt Islanders, but many were. And you also cannot overestimate the positive impact of so many vaccinated in a single day on our small island of only around 11,000 residents.
Rarely has a team effort here come off as smoothly, and it’s also symbolic of how the community responded to the coronavirus pandemic over the last year.
Neighborly commitment resulted in consistently low infection rates throughout the last 12 months.
[…] stood out. Masking and distancing was always above average. And just last weekend, turnout for popup vaccinations at the senior center was very […]