Mothers of Bergen County Help Teachers Book Vaccine Appointments

By Naniyah McClain

Student Lifestyle Editor

Jamie Bozzo and Melissa Gade of Hillsdale, N.J. work full time jobs while having their eyes on vaccine appointments 24/7, according to news.yahoo.com.

They became experts in knowing what time each location of vaccination sites for each county are open so no one is turned away.

In-person learning has been taking place at Hillsdale schools five days a week. Bozzo and Gade have helped to vaccine half of the staff at Hillsdale Schools to keep schools open and safe.

Superintendent of Hillsdale Public Schools Robert Lombardy informed teachers to register on a Google Doc to receive help for booking vaccine appointments.

“Honestly, it was like life-changing. He sent out in an email to the district, to the staff members, that we had ‘Vaccine Angels,” said teacher Lauren Lio, who has been trying to secure a weekend vaccine appointment for her mother, to news.yahoo.com.

Bozzo and Gade originally wanted to help vaccinate 50 teachers, but by constantly working through many hours of the night by setting up appointments on their computers and phones, they decided to keep going, according to msn.com.

“These teachers have given our kids such wonderful experiences. Then why would we not help?” said Gade.

Bozzo and Gade’s 10 year old children assist as well by refreshing pages.

“You can’t hesitate… You have 10 seconds sometimes to secure an appointment,” Bozzo said to msn.com

“They see their teachers getting vaccinated. We had a 90-year-old man send us a text… that we saved his life, and our kids get to experience that,” Bozzo added.

COVID-19 Numbers

The following is the latest COVID-19 cases for yesterday and today. There were 3,632 new positive COVID-19 cases in New Jersey, with 502 new cases in Bergen County.