Filipino nurse administers first coronavirus vaccine

NHS nurse May Parsons injects Margaret Keenan the coronavirus vaccine.

The first vaccine to prevent the coronavirus was administered by a May Parsons, a Filipina nurse in Great Britain. 

Parsons, a nurse in the UK's National Health Service, gave the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan.

"It's a huge honor to be the first person in the country to deliver a COVID-19 jab to a patient," Parsons said in a statement released by NHS. "I'm just glad that I'm able to play a part in this historic day."

“The last few months have been tough for all of us working in the NHS, but now it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

May, originally from the Philippines has worked in the NHS for the last 24 years and been at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire since 2003. She is one of thousands of nurses recruited from the Philippines to fill up the healthcare staffing gap in Great Britain.

The phased vaccination programme will see patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, and those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, among the first to receive the life-saving jab.

“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year,” said Keenan.

“I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too!”

"My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if I can have it at 90, then you can have it too," she said. In 21 days, she will have to receive another booster injection.

In a tweet, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce also recognized Parsons, adding she is "one of the many thousands of Filipino healthcare workers making such an enormous contribution to the NHS."

This is part of the agency's biggest vaccine campaign that will prioritize those aged 80 and above and who are already going to participating hospitals as outpatient; those who work in care homes; and health care workers at high risk.

The UK recently granted drugmaker Pfizer and its partner BioNTech temporary authorization for emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine they developed, which already showed 95% efficacy with no safety concerns.

Since the coronavirus began spreading like wildfire across the globe, pharmaceutical companies have been racing to find a vaccine to the previously unknown virus.

Britain's government has secured 800,000 doses of the vaccine so far, enough to give 400,000 people two doses each, the government said. Pfizer and BioNTech were the first to come up with a vaccine in the West. The Boston-based Moderna is reportedly on the verge of a vaccine.

Healthcare personnel and the vulnerable elderly were given priority for the shots.

To immunize the rest of the United Kingdom's 68 million people, health officials must solve enormous logistical challenges. Vials of the vaccine must be kept frozen at minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit).

The United States government in July reached an agreement with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for 100 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccine if it proved safe and effective. The Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Thursday (Dec. 10) to review the companies’ emergency use application.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a member of Pfizer’s board, told CNBC on Tuesday the company’s offers to provide the U.S. with additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine in 2021 were declined by the Trump administration.

RIP John Eric Swing: FilAm community mourns the loss of up-and-coming leader

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RIP John Eric Swing.

The announcement of the appointment of John Eric Swing as the new executive director of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) never got sent out. Instead the press release that was sent out was the announcement of Swing's death.

Swing, 48, died Sunday, June 28, another victim of the coronavirus. In mid-June, Swing had tested positive for COVID-19 and due to several complications was admitted to the hospital. 

"The entire board and staff of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans mourn the loss of our beloved leader, colleague and friend John Swing" said the the SIPA Board of Directors in a statement."The entire board and staff of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans mourn the loss of our beloved leader, colleague and friend John Swing. 

"John is known throughout the community for his dedicated, compassionate service in Historic Filipinotown, and we are proud of his latest achievement in being appointed our executive director. John was an extraordinarily kind and selfless human being, and we will carry on his legacy of community service and empowerment," continued the statement. We respectfully extend our deepest sympathies to John's family, particularly his wife and children." 

Earlier this year, the Board of Directors unanimously approved Swing's promotion to executive director of the Filipino American nonprofit after concluding a year-long nationwide search to fill the vacancy of its top staff position.

A greatly respected and passionate community advocate, Swing had worked at SIPA since 2015, leading the organization's small business counseling services and programming. He most recently managed SIPA's entrepreneurship program and multiple volunteer service projects. 

Under Swing's leadership, SIPA staff had migrated its community services, support services and educational programs online to provide ongoing, uninterrupted assistance for small businesses, youth and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, Swing led a food delivery project for seniors and minority families in HiFi with support from the office of California State Senator Ling Ling Chang. The California State Senate honored SIPA and Swing's leadership for early efforts during the pandemic with a certificate of recognition as "Unsung Heroes of Southern California."

Swing previously was appointed business director for the Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) and led fund development and operational management for Filipino American Services Group, Inc. (FASGI), as well as the Asian Pacific Health Foundation and Hep B Free San Diego. He served on the board for the Coalition of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce and My New Hope Foundation. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and avid world traveler, Swing was trilingual, fluent in Tagalog/Filipino, Spanish, and English.

Yesterday, the Board approved a motion to name its future small business center in Swing's honor. Tentatively planned as the "John Eric Swing Small Business Center," the future space will be a part of SIPA's soon-to-be redesigned headquarters at 3200 W. Temple Street. Details about the new mixed-use redevelopment project in Historic Filipinotown will be announced at a later date. More about John Swing's life's work is available at https://sipacares.org. More information on how to make a donation for the Swing family may be found at the family's GoFundMe page at: https://gf.me/u/ycc4t7.

Since 1972, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the multicultural district of Historic Filipinotown and the greater Filipino American community. As one of the oldest and largest Fil-Am non-profits in the United States, SIPA is widely known as an ambassador of Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles, where it is headquartered and where all are welcome. Led by Fil-Am business and community leaders, SIPA provides youth services and programming, family health and human services, small business counsel, arts and cultural education, events and resources.

Leadership. Education. Activism. & Dialogue [Filipino], another L.A.-based nonprofit, issued this statement: "This is a loss for all of us, as many in our statewide community benefited from and celebrated Kuya John’s gracious leadership, service, and generosity of his time, care, and talents. From San Diego, to Los Angeles, and the SF Bay Area, he elevated our development and work in social change and service provision. Our hearts are with his family, loved ones, and the SIPA community."

The SIPA press release announcing Swing's promotion, filed away and never sent, included Swing's last official statement:

"I am honored to be able to support, advocate, and program for the needs of the greater Filipino American community. While SIPA is centered on diversity and culture, we also work in the culture of changing all lives for the better. I invite everyone to join us in this effort as we build a stronger community in Historic Filipinotown and beyond."

Swing's family created a GoFundMe donation page to share updates with the community and solicit support for expenses. The link remains active for donations for his family and a memorial fund. Swing is survived by his wife and six children. The page notes that Swing's wife, Ellen, is at home recovering from the coronavirus.

"We are devastated by the passing of our friend and colleague, John Swing. John loved his family, first and foremost. He also cared deeply for his extended family – SIPA, the HiFi neighborhood, the greater L.A. Pilipino community, and the many entrepreneurs that he worked with, first as SIPA's business counselor and most recently as its executive director. His leadership and compassion will be missed," said Ron Fong, executive director of the Asian Pacific Island Small Business Program.

In the era of coronavirus: Filipino nurses on the frontlines despite deadly danger

Filipino American medical workers have suffered some of the most staggering losses in the coronavirus pandemic. As International Nurses Week launches today (May 6) with platitudes of gratitude in the midst of AAPI Heritage Month, it's time America recognizes the Filipino Americans' heroic role in caring for the ill, infirmed and elderly.

In the New York-New Jersey region alone, In doing the research for their fine article about Filipino healthcare workers, ProPublica learned of at least 30 deaths of Filipino health care workers since the end of March and many more deaths in those peoples’ extended families. The virus has struck hardest where a huge concentration of the community lives and works. They are at “the epicenter of the epicenter,” said Bernadette Ellorin, a community organizer.

By my rough, unscientific, count, 20 Filipino American nurses have fallen to the coronavirus pandemic. Add a doctor and a nursing assistant, and a transporter and that equals 23 Filipinos in the healthcare field who have died from the virus.

The number of deaths among Filipino American nurses and other healthcare workers is most likely vastly undercounted.

In doing the research for their fine article about Filipino healthcare workers, ProPublica learned of at least 30 deaths of Filipino healthcare workers in the hard-hit New York-New Jersey area since the end of March but doesn't distinguish between the nurses and other healthcare professionals.

RELATED: Filipino nurses vital to US healthcare

In the New York-New Jersey region, nearly a quarter of adults with Filipino ancestry work in hospitals or other medical fields, a ProPublica analysis of 2017 U.S. census data found.

A 2018 survey of Filipino nurses by the Philippine Nurses Association of America found that a large proportion of respondents were concentrated in bedside and critical care — “the opposite of social distancing,” executive director Leo-Felix Jurado told ProPublica, making them particularly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus.

It will take someone with better resources than Views From the Edge to determine the true impact the coronavirus has had on the healthcare workers of Filipino descent. 

Who knows how many of the staff members of the nursing homes or homes for the elderly were Filipino? These businesses are reluctant to name their workers, much less identify them by ethnicity.

Posts below by Views From the Edge tell some of their stories but barely scratch the surface of the toll taken on Filipino American healthcare workers, most of whom are nurses.

• 9 of 23 New York nurses that died from coronavirus were AAPI; 7 were Filipino American RNs.

• Kansas City nurse dies one week short of retirement

• Nurses in Detroit and a prison facility fall to coronavirus

• Howard University veteran nurse taken by the pandemic

• Veteran nurse in Florida falls to COVID-19

• Illinois RN and New Jersey nurse among family members who perish

To protect patient privacy, most hospitals and healthcare facilities are reluctant to reveal the race of staff members who died from Covid-19. That makes it difficult to ascertain all the deaths of Filipino American workers. It also hides the great dependency that the American health system has on foreign medical graduates, especially nurses from the Philippines.

Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the US? 

"One untended legacy of tthe half-century the Philippines was a US colony, 1898-1946, was the creation of hundreds of American-style nursing schools that eventually produced tens of thousands of caregivers a year, making the country “the leading exporter of nurses in the world,” Catherine Ceniza Choy told ProPublica. Choy is a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of “Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History.

Certainly, at this unprecedentied time in history, whether or not it was exploitation or an opportunity for Filipinos, there is an abundance if well-trained Filipino nurses willing to leave the Philippines and the comfort of family, making them in demand the world over, not only in the US and Canada, but Australia, Germany, Japan and the Middle East.

Photo by Linda Bruch

Northern Rockies Medical Center has four Filipina registered nurses on staff and they are loving living in rural Montana. Pictured are, left to right, Geraldine Genis, Michelle Boltron, Dina Elca and Mary Jell Capillo.

Even if they get placed in low-paying positions, the pay they receive is greater than what they would eaern in the Philippines, allowing them to send money back home for their relatives. Perhaps this Filipino value -- opportunity to help the family -- is worth the loss of familiarity and comfort of their barrio or family.

The value of kapwa, a Filipino attribute contributes heavily to the international reputation of Filipinos as caregivers: nanny's, teachers, eldercare companions and nurses. 

“Kapwa is a recognition of a shared identity, an inner self, shared with others. This Filipino linguistic unity of the self and the other is unique and unlike in most modern languages. Why? Because implied in such inclusiveness is the moral obligation to treat one another as equal fellow human beings. If we can do this – even starting in our own family or our circle of friends – we are on the way to practice peace. We are Kapwa People,” says Professor Virgilio Enriquez, founder of Sikolohiyang Pilipino.

Sometimes described as "self-sacrifice," it contributes to the willingness of the nurses to put the patient before one's self, which sometimes put the Filipino nurses in conflict with American values and hospital rules of patient care.

“They have such a profound willingness to work that they would forget their own well-being,” says Choy to ProPublica. Kapwa.

“They would think of their loved ones in the Philippines — if they don’t work, then they can’t send money back home.” Kapwa.

Filipino nurses have what it takes to survive the worst scenarios such as COVID-19, says Patrick Singson, a n ER nurse working in New York City. 

“Filipinos are fighters. We don’t give up. We don’t complain. Others would have already quit. But Filipinos, we’re solid,” he says. Kapwa.

'From a distance' -- Hasan Minhaj gives tips to brown families at home

Like most of us, Hasan Minhaj is sheltering in place and practicing social distancing, but -- also like many of us, he's getting a little stir-crazy.

With his Patriot Act on hiatus during the coronavirus crisis, the Indian American comedian has introduced "Hasan Minhaj - From A Distance" on his Facebook page and YouTube.

The best part is we get to watch Minhaj's parenting skills as his wife goes to work in the medical field.

Forsaking his Netflix format, Minhaj presents the simple things: From making peanut butter sandwich or telling the difference between Ranch drassing and masala, to reviewing chidrens' books, the comedian has us laughing providing a welcome relief from the news of the day.

Here are two sample episodes. Enjoy! Wash your hands and stay at home.

Coronavirus effect: New York investigating spate of anti-Asian attacks as hate crimes

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A 13-year old suspect (in red) was arrested for one of the numerous attacks on Asian Americans in New York.

ASAM NEWS

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is ordering the New York State Police Hate Crime Task Force to investigate the attack of an Asian student by another student, reports the Crime Report.

“Where’s your corona mask, you Asian —–.” police say the suspect said. The suspect is a student at the Empire Beauty School.

‘To be clear: there is zero evidence that people of Asian descent bear any additional responsibility for the transmission of the coronavirus,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. He said he called in the task force to “make sure the assailant is held accountable.”

The incident last week is one of several similar attacks in the New York area.

The New York Post reports the city’s Human Rights Commission is investigating five cases of coronavirus racism in just the past two weeks.

The commission did not release any details, but on Saturday, a 13-year old boy turned himself in, accused of knocking a 59-year-old Asian man to the ground after kicking him from behind.

The teen was arrested later and charged with hate-crime assault for an alleged anti-Asian attack, said police authorities.

“Hate and discrimination against anyone on the basis of their race, national origin, or other status is not tolerated in New York City,” spokeswoman Alicia McCauley said. “The New York City Commission on Human Rights, Mayor’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, and NYPD are monitoring and responding to reported hate and bias incidents resulting from fear and stigma related to COVID-19.”

A man sprayed Febreeze air fresher at an Asian passenger on the N train in Sunseet Park, Brooklyn Wednesday morning. The incident captured the incident on a cellphone by another passenger.

The video shows the suspect yelling at the fellow passenger, "Tell him to move... because he is standing right (expletive) next to me!"

Moments later the suspect picks up a bottle of Febreze and sprays it toward the man. The incident is now being investigated by the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force.

In yet another incident, a man wearing camouflage clothing. followed and verbally harassed an Asian father and his 10-year old son on Thursday. The  incident at 70 Avenue and Queens Blvd. culminated with the camo-clad attacker hit the father from behind. Police arrested a 44-year old man who fit the description of the suspect.

"I want to emphasize right now to all New Yorkers, it is absolutely unacceptable to discriminate against Asian individuals and Asian communities in the midst of this crisis," de said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.