Should elementary schools be used as adult walk-in COVID vaccine clinics?
/By Rubashov
With the death of local news coverage, there are few media platforms willing to cast a light on the goings on of the centers of gravity in local communities. Last year, Jennifer Dericks’ TAPinto took a deep dive into the machinations behind the siting of a mega-warehouse in Sparta Township. Her coverage not only exposed a questionable process – it flipped control of local government, giving a very red town a blue governing majority.
Because, at the end of the day, most sane people do not want “my party right or wrong”. They want a government that listens to their concerns. They want the party of government to react to what worries them – not tell them to “shut up and go back to sleep”.
Some counties and local governments have become transparency free zones with no external oversight. Local media simply doesn’t exist, and the situation is a great incubator of corruption.
Think of the work done by New Jersey Herald reporters to uncover the Sussex Solar scandal that cost taxpayers $40 million. A similar scandal now would go unnoticed – except for blogs like this one and news websites, like Jennifer Dericks’ TAPinto. For better, or worse, this is all voters and taxpayers have left. There is nobody else to blow the whistle.
The great upside to controversy is that people remember you are there. This was forwarded to us. It concerns an event held in Franklin Borough, in Sussex County. It seems a walk-in COVID vaccination clinic was set-up at the elementary school auditorium there. As an inducement, the vaccine providers offered a “$25 gift card” to anyone receiving a vaccine.
Now, we hear all the time about school security and about the need to harden school security. If we are not mistaken, a great deal of taxpayers’ money has been spent to this end. It appears to us that if you are spending money to harden school security on the one hand, you should not be posting “walk-ins welcome” signs on the other. And that is what the advertisement says: “Walk-ins welcome!”
The clinic is run by Zufall Health Center of Dover, New Jersey. It is a not-for-profit organization that managed to generate in excess of $20 million in revenue, according to its last available 990 tax return. Zufall Health Center’s GuideStar profile states:
“Zufall Health Center provides medical, dental & behavioral health to more than 39,500 uninsured and underinsured patients and more than 141,000 medical, dental & behavioral health visits to low-income community residents.
Zufall Health Center provided specially targeted health services to the homeless, residents of public housing, and immigrant farm workers in Northwest New Jersey.”
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/22-3125397
Now, we are quite sure that these communities are in need of such services. But in times such as those we live in, is the auditorium of an elementary school the appropriate site?
One parent expressed this concern: “The school administration has set up a covid vaccine clinic at the school during school hours letting strangers onto school property and into the school building during school hours so they can receive their shot and a $25 gift card. Who knows what kind of people will show up for the free $25?” A fair enough concern and one that local leaders should take note of and react to.
Franklin Borough is not short of political muscle either. It is the home of Senator Steve Oroho and County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia. Looking into the concerns of the people they represent is their job. We expect them to get on with it.
Update from parents at the Franklin elementary school.
A parent writes:
“The flyer stated it was in the auditorium. However, the clinic was set up in the school’s ‘zoom room’ a gymnasium in the school’s basement right in the heart of the building. Patrons had to access this area by using the front doors and walking past student areas such as hallways and classrooms. In these days, where we need to keep our schools safe, the Franklin School Administration and Board of Education put our children in absolute danger.”
Another parent noted:
“…the zoom room is the gym area for the preschool program. They set up a medical facility where our children play on a daily basis.”
“Voters can’t make informed decisions unless they’re informed. If you asked any self-respecting constituent of George Santos, they’d tell you they wish they knew then what they know now.”
Micah Rasmussen
Director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
George Orwell
