Non-Queens residents won’t be turned away from Citi Field vaccine site due to web glitch: City officials
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A vaccine site opened at Citi Field in February. The site is reserved for Queens residents as well as taxi drivers and food service workers. Mayor’s Office Photography
By David Brand
UPDATE: Saturday, March 13 at 4:43 p.m. — Multiple people contacted the Eagle following publication of this article to say they were turned away from the Citi Field site despite a Health + Hospitals directive to allow non-Queens residents to get the vaccine site if they made their appointment on line.
One Brooklyn resident managed to get the dose after his wife read this article to staff at Citi Field.
Non-Queens residents who managed to sign up for appointments at the Citi Field vaccine clinic will not be turned away, even though the site is reserved for people who live in the borough, officials said Thursday.
A bug on the city’s updated vaccine registration website has allowed non-Queens residents to book slots at Citi Field without providing a zip code, though the appointments are supposed to go to people who live in Queens or who work as taxi drivers and food service workers.
The Eagle reached out to the city’s Health + Hospitals Corporation, which runs the Citi Field site, to ask about the issue. A spokesperson said non-Queens residents who make appointments using the city’s Vax4NYC website can still get their shots at the ballpark and will not be denied based on their home address.
“We are working to fix this issue with the website as soon as possible and in the meantime anyone who has an appointment and is otherwise eligible to be vaccinated is not being turned away,” the spokesperson said.
Non-Queens residents with Citi Field appointments began sharing their concerns about the website issue on social media earlier this month.
Turbovax, a Twitter account that aggregates and tweets open vaccine appointments in New York City, cautioned New Yorkers about the potential problem March 9.
“FYI if you are a non-Queens resident who picked up a Citi Field slot yesterday, you may be turned away,” Turbovax tweeted March 9. “The new Vax4NYC website doesn't restrict people with ineligible zips from booking Citi Field appts. This was not the case on the old H+H site.”
A Brooklyn resident with a Citi Field vaccine appointment Friday night said he will update the Eagle about his experience. This story will be updated with his account.
If you are a non-Queens resident with a Citi Field vaccine appointment, and you are not a food service worker or TLC driver, please reach out to David Brand at david@queenspublicmedia.com or on Twitter @DavidFBrand
The location of the vaccine site will soon move to McFadden’s sports bar to accommodate the upcoming baseball season. The bar is located on the 126th Street side of the park, behind the outfield fence,
Vaccine recipients currently line up at the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, located near the No. 7 train station.
