NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Upper Manhattan congressman Adriano Espaillat has one more reason to encourage his constituents to get vaccinated.
He believes the vaccine may have saved his life.
In mid-January, shortly after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Espaillat tested positive for Covid-19. He had received his second shot of the Pfizer vaccine only four days earlier.
"My second shot didn't have enough time to kick in. I came out positive, and I didn't have any symptoms whatsoever."
On January 14, Espaillat tweeted, "I am following guidance from my physician and quarantining at home after having tested positive for COVID-19."
The 66-year old Democrat, who represents New York's 13th district, says he gets tested about four times a week.
"I was taking really good care of myself, double masking, wearing gloves."
In fact, he says sometimes colleagues joke about his black latex gloves. Espaillat says he does not believe he was exposed during the attack on the Capitol. He says he was only very briefly in the room where many of his colleagues were gathered, but he was able to get to his office. He's not sure where he was exposed to the virus, and that no one else in his circle tested positive, including, thankfully, his 90-year old mother. He says he does fly to and from Washington.
Espaillat tells 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon he finally tested negative after 14 days, during which time he remained quarantined but asymptomatic.
"I'm pretty lucky. I may have landed in the hospital, maybe in intensive care. "
He says he even spoke about it with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the impact the vaccine may have had on his outcome, and he believes that even having the first dose helped shield him from a serious case of Covid.
"A guy my age with a little bit of high blood pressure. God knows what would have happened."
Espaillat says those eligible in his district should take this as encouragement to get the vaccine, which may have gotten a little bit easier. Last week, New York Presbyterian hospital announced that the Armory in Washington Heights, in Espaillat's district, is reserving 60% of its vaccine supply for residents of upper Manhattan (Washington Heights, Inwood and Central Harlem) and the South Bronx, which have been especially hard-hit in the pandemic. The remaining doses are now reserved for residents of the five boroughs only.
A few days earlier, multiple news reports revealed suburbanites were booking its reservations and flocking to the site.
"We were alarmed to see that a lot of the people that were there were not local residents," the Congressman says. but he says he's now encouraged that 2,000 New York City residents a day are currently receiving their shots at the Armory.