Citi Field Ballpark, home of the New York Mets Major League Baseball team on September 7, 2019 in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
Tim Clayton | Corbis Sport | Getty Images
New York will turn Citi Field into a 24/7 mega coronavirus vaccination site by the end of January to vaccinate thousands of residents every day, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday.
NYC Health and Hospitals will operate the New York Mets site with the goal of taking between 5,000 and 7,000 admissions daily, de Blasio said in a joint announcement with Mets owner Steve Cohen.
The announcement comes a day after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that his city will set up a vaccination site at Dodger Stadium by the end of this week. This facility can fire up to 12,000 shots a day, according to a statement from Garcetti’s office on Monday.
“This will help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio said during a press conference. “We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”
New York City Mayor has urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to increase the number of people who would be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine, beyond the priority healthcare workers. Cuomo granted the city’s request last week, saying that people age 75 and older, as well as key workers such as first responders, teachers, school staff and others across the state could be vaccinated against the disease starting this week.
A person wearing a protective mask stands in front of a vaccination center for Covid-19 in Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx, New York on Monday, January 11, 2021.
David Delgado | Bloomberg | Getty Images
As of Tuesday, the state will open Covid-19 vaccinations to all over 65s as well as to younger people with compromised immune systems, the Democratic governor said during a conversation with reporters on Tuesday morning.
However, it seems that so far the problem has not found a place for people to be vaccinated – it has ensured the supply of the doses. According to Cuomo, the newly expanded federal guidelines apply to about 7 million people, but the state only receives about 300,000 doses per week.
“I ask for your patience, as there are unfortunately far more eligible New Yorkers than vaccines from the federal government,” Cuomo said in a tweet on Tuesday.
De Blasio said the city had 26,000 vaccinations on Monday. At that rate, the city will run out of vaccines in less than two weeks, he said.
“We’re going to need the doses to keep this kind of effort going,” he said.
