A powerful snowstorm covered much of the Northeast on Monday, severely hampering public health efforts to curb vaccinations between Pennsylvania and New England.
Mass vaccinations at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of the Giants and Jets of pro football, canceled New York City management testing and vaccination sites was also closed for the day.
In Pennsylvania, state-run testing centers in Armstrong, Cumberland, Jefferson, Monroe and Wayne Provinces were also closed due to snowfall. Vaccinations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at the Allentown Fairgrounds have been postponed to Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
“People stay off the roads, it’s dangerous. Job 1 is currently protecting people’s lives by first dealing with the snow,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told MSNBC on Monday morning, predicting that up to 22 centimeters snow can fall. America’s largest metro area.
“We really want to get back to vaccinations tomorrow morning, God willing.”
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium, where the Red Sox and the Patriots play soccer, continued vaccination efforts in New England on Monday despite predictions of 10 inches of snow for Boston.
“It’s New England, we know the weather sometimes makes things harder, but we’re finding a way,” according to a statement from CIC Health, which manages both Gillette Stadium and the Fenway Park vaccination centers.
About 500 people are expected to be injected into the shadow of Fenway’s Green Monster in Boston on Monday, hoping to reach 1,200 daily after the snow stops and clears.
“So we think we can do more, as the weather improves,” Rodrigo Martinez, head of marketing and experience at CIC, told NBC News as patients rolled up their sleeves and health workers – sitting in front of Samuel Adams taps – were taking vaccines. . of vials in syringes.
Jacquie Van Haelst, 85, was to have her vaccinated on Tuesday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, about 45 miles south of Boston, but feared the ongoing snowstorm would ruin the plans.
When she heard from her niece on Monday that spots had opened at Fenway, Van Haelst jumped out of the shower and rushed to Lansdowne Street.
“I can not tell you how excited I am,” she said after taking her Pfizer shot. “I’m excited. And so I’m ready to go home and hit some tennis balls. ‘
But a mass vaccination center at the Reggie Lewis Center, a basketball and track and field venue in the Roxbury, Boston neighborhood, has closed with all appointments scheduled for Monday until February 8, city officials said.
Matteo Moschella and Kathryn Prociv contributed.