Proud and protected: Vaccination event does double duty to raise HIV awareness

A team effort is headed to Corona to get residents vaccinated and tested for HIV in a celebratory environment.  Photo via Governor’s office

By Rachel Vick

Corona residents can protect themselves against COVID-19 and HIV this Sunday at a collaborative Pride event focused on health and celebration.

Stop the Spread, community healthcare and Communidad Latinx are coming together outside the New York Hall of Science to get the community vaccinated while promoting attention to other health matters.

“While our primary focus is very much on getting shots in arms, there are so many other health needs and social needs in the communities that I think we want to take advantage of this moment of people being engaged to get help they need beyond the vaccines,” said Stop the Spread Chief Operating Officer Molly Chidester.

“If we just vaccinate and return to normalcy it doesn't do anything to change the trajectory if we were to see another pandemic or public health issue.”

Latinx and LGBTQ+ clinical staff will be on hand to administer Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

They will also administer HIV tests and enroll attendees HIV PrEP to mark National HIV Testing Day — and the 40th anniversary of the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Only 40 percent of Corona residents have been fully vaccinated, only two percent below the city’s average and seven percent less than Queens as a whole, according to city data.

“I lost several members of our staff, and also work with people of trans experience, and that community was devastated especially in the Queens area,” said Freddy Molano, vice president of Infectious Diseases-LGTBQ Programs and Services at Community Healthcare Network. “I see it as a personal challenge that if we don't help we will have another wave and if we have another wave it will be so devastating for all of us.”

Both COVID and HIV protections are about being proactive to avoid the spread, which is particularly important with emergence of the new variants, Molano said.

“PrEP works and we want to make sure migrants like myself have access to prevent transmission of HIV and getting infected by COVID-19,” he added. “It's the only way.”

After getting vaccinated patients will be able to pick up food from a local taco truck, owned by a single mother of five. Music and dance performances will occur throughout the afternoon, and attendees will be able to win prizes including tickets to the Mets game later that day.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is open to the public.