York College (Google Maps)
Feb. 10, 2021 By Allie Griffin
A massive COVID-19 vaccination site, specifically for Queens residents, will open in Jamaica later this month.
The federally-run vaccination site will open at York College the week of Feb. 24, Governor Andrew Cuomo and federal officials announced today.
The facility will have the capacity to vaccinate 3,000 people a day, which — along with a second federal site in Brooklyn also announced today — makes it the largest COVID-19 vaccination site in the New York state to date.
All vaccination appointments at York College will be reserved for Queens residents only, Cuomo said.
The site’s vaccine supply is a special allocation from the federal government — separate from the state or city’s weekly allotted dosages.
The facility will be staffed by both federal and state workers, Cuomo said at a press briefing.
The state and federal government selected a site located in Jamaica — a largely minority community — to address the racial inequity illustrated by the pandemic, he added.
The COVID-19 infection rate was three times higher in Black and Hispanic communities across the nation, according to a study done by the National Urban League and John Hopkins Center for Health Equity, Cuomo said.
The two vaccine sites announced today are part of the Biden administration’s program to help the “hardest hit, hardest to reach populations,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at the briefing.
Cuomo applauded the help from the White House.
“The federal government having separate mass vaccination sites in socially vulnerable communities is a bold step — only the first step; we have to do more,” Cuomo said. “But it’s a bold step that we should all take as a sign of hope and acknowledge of the problem. “
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