当 Ethan Gilbert ’22 heard Head of School Audrius Barzdukas P’20 say at a recent Town Hall that teachers were finding it difficult to get appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations, he took it to heart 和 proved that one person can make a difference.

“在我家里,” Gilbert said, “my family faced the same dilemma with two gr和parents over the age of eighty. We decided to take it into our own h和s, 和 managed to book appointments for both of them. Over the next couple of weeks I managed to secure over a dozen appointments for friends 和 family. I came to the realization that if I could make appointments for the people close to me, then why couldn’t I do the same for our Poly teachers.” He named the project VACs (Vaccine Appointment 机组人员) for Vax.

“The idea was inspired by Mr. Barzdakus’ words during the Town Hall,” Gilbert explained.  “In order for all of us to get back to school, we need to protect our teachers from the virus. In other words, it is a necessity for teachers to be vaccinated. It’s not an easy task as the supply of the vaccine is uncertain, 和 millions of New Yorkers are contending for a limited number of appointments. I saw an opportunity to help out my community during these uncertain times.”

“So far I have secured about seven appointments for teachers with one getting her vaccine dose last night,” Gilbert said. “T在这里 is a growing list of teachers needing vaccine appointments. I’m working with faculty members to start growing a volunteer team.” 

在一封电子邮件中， Head of 上学校 莎拉·贝茨 告诉老师, “Ethan has mastered the online vaccine scheduling software 和 would love to help any faculty member who may have trouble getting an appointment. All you need to do is complete his survey 和 he’ll be in touch.” 

Sarah Zuercher NP, Director of Health 和 Well-being also let faculty know about VACs for Vax. “Helping our employees get vaccinated is key to protecting our employees from COVID 和 crucial to returning to a more normal version of school,”她说。. “Many people in our Poly community have struggled to find appointments because vaccine supply is so limited 和 the websites to find appointments are cumbersome 和 time consuming. Ethan’s idea to put his tech skills to use to start VACs for Vax 和 help teachers connect to vaccine appointments was just amazing 和 so touching. We are so grateful to Ethan for donating his time 和 talents to this effort!”

Zuercher continues to keep faculty 和 staff informed about the vaccine, 它是如何工作的, 副作用, 和 more 和 has hosted information sessions along with Dr. Ali Lee P’31, ’34 和 Dr. Melissa Alvarez-Downing P’32, ’34, ’35. Ethan Gilbert ’22 has joined in to discuss his student-led initiative to connect teachers to vaccine appointments.

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If you are a member of the Poly community would like Ethan 和 the VACs for Vax team to assist in booking a vaccine appointment for you, please complete their request form 在这里.