Citi Field Baseball Stadium, 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 make Citi Field a 24/7 ‘mega’ coronavirus vaccination site by the end of January in an effort to vaccinate thousands of residents daily, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
NYC Health and Hospitals will operate the site, home to the New York Mets, with the goal of giving between 5,000 and 7,000 shots a day, de Blasio said in a joint announcement with Steve Cohen, owner of Mets, said.
The announcement comes a day after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said his city would set up a vaccination center at Dodger Stadium by this week. According to a statement from the Garcetti office on Monday, the facility will be able to deliver up to 12,000 shots a day.
“It’s going to help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio told a news conference. “We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans; there is no discrimination.”
The mayor of New York has urged the government of Andrew Cuomo to expand the number of people who would be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine to the health workers who have the highest priority. Cuomo granted the city’s request last week, saying people 75 years and older, as well as essential workers, such as first responders, teachers, school staff and others, could be vaccinated against the disease across the country.
A person wearing a protective mask is standing outside a Covid-19 vaccination site at Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx District, New York, USA on Monday, January 11, 2021.
David Delgado | Bloomberg | Getty Images
On Tuesday, the state will reveal Covid-19 vaccinations for everyone 65 years and older as well as younger people who are immune, the Democratic governor said Tuesday morning during a call with reporters.
However, it seems that the problem so far has not succeeded in finding space to vaccinate people – this has ensured the provision of the doses. Cuomo said the newly expanded federal guidelines apply to about 7 million people, but the state receives only about 300,000 doses a week.
“I urge patience, because unfortunately there are far more suitable NYers than there is vaccine from the federal government,” Cuomo said in a tweet Tuesday.
De Blasio said the city did 26,000 vaccinations on Monday. By that time, the city would have no vaccines in less than two weeks, he said.
“We will need the doses to keep these kinds of efforts going,” he said.