Since the launch of the Nicklaus Children’s COVID-19 Relief Fund last year, the community has donated $1.1 million in charitable donations to the hospital. Those donations have been put to work to support the hospital’s vaccine distribution efforts for teens and young adults like Diego.
“I am so grateful for the community support that made it possible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” says Diego, a Nicklaus Children’s patient who receives care for cystic fibrosis. “Nicklaus Children’s is helping keep patients like me safe, and thanks to them, I feel comfortable going back out into the community.”
Hundreds of generous individuals in the community donated to Nicklaus Children’s COVID-19 relief, alongside a major contribution from corporate partner City National Bank of Florida. Support from the 2020 Virtual Diamond Ball, An Auction Benefiting Nicklaus Children’s Hospital also benefited the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The charitable donations have offset extra labor and medical supply costs associated with distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to thousands of at-risk adolescents and young adults ages 16 to 21 in the community. These funds supplemented other funding the hospital received last year from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Raul, who receives regular medical care for cerebral palsy at Nicklaus Children’s, was the first in his family to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. “The COVID-19 vaccine has reopened the doors of the world for me. Thank you, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital,” he says. “We are all in this together and I look forward to the vaccine making its way to more people.”
“We are grateful to see such an outpouring of community support for our COVID-19 Relief Fund to support patients like Raul and Diego. Families have been incredibly grateful, with tears of joy, to receive the vaccine,” said Michelle Boggs, President of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation. “We are proud to share this great news that the hospital’s supporters are playing a critical role in helping to keep our patients, friends and neighbors safe during the pandemic.”
In December, Nicklaus Children’s became the first children’s hospital in the region to offer a COVID-19 vaccination program, and as of March 5, the hospital began offering the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to Florida’s teens and young adults who met the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria for high-risk conditions associated with COVID-19. On April 5, Nicklaus Children’s opened vaccine eligibility to any child or young adult in Florida, ages 16 to 21.
To learn more about the Nicklaus Children’s COVID-19 Relief Fund and other ways to support patients and families, visit https://give.nicklauschildrens.org.
To learn about Nicklaus Children’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, visit https://www.nicklauschildrens.org/covid19vaccine.