Culture & Community | Education & Youth | New Haven Public Schools | Youth Arts Journalism Initiative | Public Health | COVID-19
Luke Izzo (at far right) with friends at Vaccinate Fair Haven earlier this year. Contributed Photos. The second is Izzo with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Sixteen year old Luke Izzo is a rising New Haven Academy senior by day. The ongoing global pandemic has transformed him into a vaccine angel by night.
In the early days of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Izzo learned firsthand how hard it was for people to secure an appointment, especially if they didn’t speak English. So he started a hotline for people who spoke different languages and he volunteered to help moderate a regional Facebook page called Vaccine Hunters and Angels.
“I did not realize the scope of how hard it was to book a vaccine, especially for elderly people,” he said in a recent interview.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of a newly developed Covid-19 vaccine in December 2020. Izzo said he knew he wanted to be part of making sure that people had access to it. As soon as there was news of vaccines, he said, he saw elderly people posting and speaking about how hard it was to make an appointment on social media and in the news.
Tech-savvy people could navigate the cumbersome process of making appointments online, while older people sometimes struggled to use the Internet. People were reaching out to Vaccine Hunters and Angels for help booking vaccine appointments.
Izzo joined the group in late February and quickly got to work trying to help the people around him. He said he saw how dangerous the virus was, and listened to reports of all the lives that were being lost. He wanted to change that.
He learned about Vaccine Hunters and Angels by seeing it on the local ABC news affiliate WTNH Channel 8. He began posting frequently, which led the people running the page to reach out to him to become a moderator in March. He often stayed up until 2 a.m., when pharmacies and clinics would release new times, trying to help people find vaccine appointments.
In April, Izzo started his own hotline to help non-English speakers get appointments, recruiting volunteers from Vaccine Hunters and Angels.
In addition to helping moderate the page, Izzo made calls to give people the facts about the vaccine. He also did canvassing in Fair Haven, Newhallville, and the Hill neighborhoods of New Haven to share information about the vaccine.
He said he quickly understood that there was a lot of false information being spread about the virus that was scaring people away from vaccination.
Alaina Brenick, also a member of the Vaccine Hunters and Angels group, said she was impressed with Izzo’s initiative and maturity.
“I just kept remembering his name pop up on the page, making daily posts, reaching out to folks, trying to help them get the vaccine,” she said.
“We're all middle aged women and one day Luke had said to us, ‘I can’t stay up with you guys tonight, I have my SATs in the morning,’ which blew me away because I would have never guessed he was 16,” she said.
She said Izzo was always coming up with creative ways to organize ways to help people get vaccinated. She credited him with helping turn the page into an organized system by assigning people certain jobs and shifts to maximize their efforts to help people.
Earlier this year Izzo was selected to be an ambassador for another group called Teens for Vaccines. The group was created by teenagers to encourage people across Connecticut to get vaccinated and to combat the spread of disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
Izzo said he uses this group to reach people all across Connecticut and “try to get folks vaccinated.”
“If [a] person is so against getting vaccinated, or not wanting to get it, I am not going to try and convince them,” he said. “It is also dangerous if they are on the fence about it and if we continuously push them, they don't want to get vaccinated because you keep pushing them. It is good to have civil discussions and let people ask questions for themselves.”
New Haven Academy alum Sultanya Hamid said Izzo is very persuasive when talking to people about getting vaccinated. Now an incoming college freshman, she said Izzo has tried to persuade her to get vaccinated.
Hamid said Izzo was never forceful with her and openly listened to her opinions on the vaccine and her religious beliefs. Izzo did not disrespect her or try to force the vaccine on her, she said.
“I, personally, had no intention of getting the vaccine, however Luke has carefully described to me the effect not receiving the vaccine has on me as an individual and the effect it has on those around me,” she said.
She is holding out due to religious beliefs.
Now that the vaccine is available to anyone over 12, Izzo has not been scheduling many appointments. He said that may change now that the Delta variant of Covid-19, which is more transmissible, is circulating in the state. On Wednesday, the New Haven Department of Public Health also announced that it would begin offering booster shots in September, meaning that he may have his hands full again soon.
With the high number of people still unvaccinated in certain parts of the state, Izzo predicts that he’ll be tasked with donning his vaccine angel wings to help people schedule appointments.
“The people who are not being vaccinated are being selfish to everyone else,” Izzo said.
He’s not trying to convince people of something he hasn’t done himself. Izzo was able to get vaccinated before his age group was eligible for the vaccine. In the early days of the vaccine rollout, clinics would find themselves with leftover doses because people didn’t show up to their appointments.
He called pharmacies for three days looking for extra doses. He got lucky at a Walgreens in Hamden that had vaccine doses expiring in 30 minutes. It was March 21, just 10 days before his age group was technically eligible. He got to the Walgreens in 15 minutes
He wants everyone to get the vaccine if their age group is eligible.
“I did not want to get myself sick or others around me sick,” he said. “It's a very safe vaccine.”
Izzo is the head delegate for his school’s Model UN and Congress clubs. He also serves as chair of New Haven High School Democrats, and is a member of the executive board of his school’s gender sexuality alliance.
Jewel Booker is a graduate of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI) and a participant in its inaugural summer camp. She recently finished her senior year at New Haven Academy and will be heading to the University of Connecticut this fall.