“Can I See Your Vaccine?”: My Job as a Health Ambassador in NYC

The New York City I lived in from March-August 2020 was empty, eerily quiet, and flat out scary. It was as if the city itself was on life  support in the ER, with teams of people furiously working to revive it. I’m no MD or RN, but I jumped onto the front line and worked at a test site in a desperate attempt to do my part.  (Click HERE for details on my experience).

20 months later, and New York City is back! Well…. Kind of.

Offices are still fairly empty, the sidewalks have breathing room, and you can usually snag a seat on the subway… even during rush hour. Restaurants, theatres, and events are up and running and a sense of “normalcy” has returned.

But there’s one important caveat: you need to be vaccinated. New York law says so. Vaccine proof is your ticket into gyms, restaurants, concerts, events, etc, and without it, you’ll be missing out on life.

It is one of my side hustles to enforce these laws at a popular NYC food market as a “health ambassador.”

The duties change with the laws. When I first started in August 2020, it was my job to enforce the mask mandate. Now, it’s my job to check that anyone dining inside is vaccinated. (And to tell people where the bathroom is and my favorite spots to grab a bite.)

            Insider Info: Health ambassadors in this job role aren’t required to be vaccinated. Regardless of our vax status, we are required to wear a mask indoors. I wear a mask indoors everywhere anyways. Better safe than sorry. Plus, the mask nicely hides what I really feel sometimes…

Trusting fellow humans is nice in theory, but alas, people continually try to beat the system. People will take pictures/borrow/photocopy someone else vaccine card, meaning I must also check IDs to ensure the names match up. Some even forge or buy fake vaccine cards. I haven’t seen any of those. At least I don’t think…

Diligently asking people to wear masks outside during the New York August heat was slightly traumatizing. I got cursed at, yelled at, accused of being racist, and everything inbetween. Surely asking for proof of vaccination would only be worse….

I was shocked at the responses.

“Thank you!” “It’s so great you are doing this.” “I really appreciate it.”

90% of the time people are more than happy to show me both vaccine proof and IDs. 9.9% of the time people are annoyed I interrupted them mid taco. .1% of the time someone throws a hissy fit and storms out.

There are a few pieces of the puzzle as to why the response is overwhelmingly positive and why the majority of visitors are vaccinated:

1. COVID 19 sucked the life out of NYC. Literally. When you see so much death and trauma, you will do anything to protect yourself against it. Social distancing isn’t an option when you pack in 27,013 people per square mile.
2. New York City has been a leader in implementing strict COVID policies from the getgo. People are used to restrictions.
3. In order to get on an international flight, you need to be vaccinated. Given the fact that the market is a popular tourist destination, it makes sense why most people have their vaccines and IDs ready to go.

The surprisingly warm reception has made my role as a health ambassador easy breezy.  I’m happy to be a little piece of the puzzle in the city’s return to normalcy, and even happier to see how many people are proudly vaccinated.

During the height of the pandemic, my dad ended every email with “this too shall pass.” I am finally starting to think he’s right.

(If you’re curious on my vaccine thoughts, click HERE for a reflection on an anti-vax protest in Australia.)