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Homebound seniors targeted for vaccine

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President Joe Biden announced Tuesday there will be enough vaccine produced in the country to inoculate every single American adult by the end of May.

That was great news to many — especially since it’s two months ahead of when the Biden administration felt enough doses would be produced.

Getting those vaccines into the arms of everyone is a much more challenging task, however. That’s especially true for older residents, who might not be able to use computers to schedule appointments, or to get out and get a shot in the first place.

The city council has passed a bill by Brooklyn councilman Mark Treyger that would require the city’s health and mental hygiene commissioner to develop a plan to vaccinate homebound senior citizens against the coronavirus.

“Those who need the most help must be prioritized in the government’s vaccine distribution plan,” Treyger said, in a release. “This law will provide fair access to health care services and equity in the distribution of the vaccine so that our most vulnerable residents are not left behind.”

 

Israeli university honors Dr. Ruth

She’s already a real doctor, but that’s not stopping Ben-Gurion University of the Negev from becoming the first and only Israeli university to bestow an honorary degree to Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer.

The famed sex therapist will be recognized remotely during a ceremony on April 25. Westheimer had originally planned to visit the school in-person last summer, but the coronavirus pandemic made such travel by the 92-year-old impossible.

But not even the pandemic could stop her from starting the Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer Endowed Scholarship for Psychology at the school.

While the honorary doctorate and the scholarship may appear to go hand-in-hand, Westheimer told The Riverdale Press last year that she came up with the idea after the school chose to honor her.

“They didn’t ask me for anything,” Westheimer said. “But I said I would raise enough money to create this scholarship. I didn’t want it to be just in sex therapy. I wanted it to be broader. And I wanted it to  be something they could give forever and ever.”

Dr. Ruth attends Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale.

Joe Biden, Mark Treyger, Michael Hinman, Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, Dr. Ruth, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale,

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