Abinanti’s Advocacy for Vaccines for the Disabled is Deeply Appreciated
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
I write to support Assemblyman Tom Abinanti for re-election.
His legislative accomplishments speak for themselves. Assemblyman Abinanti has sponsored and passed over 150 meaningful bills in the legislature touching on all aspects of our lives. You can see this for yourself on his Assembly website.
However, his advocacy for access to vaccines for people with disabilities during the pandemic is not as well known. While nursing home residents and healthcare workers were prioritized when vaccines became available (as they should have been), people with disabilities living in group homes, quarantined and equally vulnerable to the virus by staff and each other, were not. Through his relentless advocacy for this vulnerable population, vaccines were made available resulting in more than 90 percent of residents in group homes being vaccinated. Undoubtedly, this prevented many from serious illness, hospitalization and death.
He also voted with his colleagues for extra money to distribute vaccines, to allow pharmacists and EMTs to administer them and for extra time off for employees to get vaccinated.
While many of us make our voices heard with our elected officials, it is important not to forget those that don’t or can’t. I am proud to support an elected official who fights for all of us and I know will continue to do so.
Francesca Hagadus-McHale
Pleasantville
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