NY state set to open mass vaccine site at York College

A New Yorker received his second COVID-19 vaccines at a New York State Vaccination Site at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The state will open a similar site at York College later this month. Photo via Governor’s Office

By David Brand

New York state will establish a mass COVID vaccine site — hopefully a real one this time — at York College in Jamaica, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

The York College site will open Feb. 24 with capacity to administer 3,000 shot per day, Cuomo said. 

“That will be the largest vaccination site that the state has opened to date,” Cuomo said. “The largest mass vaccination site in existence in the State of New York.”

The program will be run in partnership with the federal government and all appointments are reserved for residents of the borough, the governor’s office said.

York College President Dr. Berenecea Johnson Eanes said she was “pleased to support” the vaccination effort in a tweet Wednesday. 

Queens, known as the “epicenter” of the COVID-19 crisis in March and April, continues to outpace the citywide positivity rate, with zip codes in Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park accounting for some of the highest concentrations of COVID-19 in New York, according to Health Department data.

But the state and federal government had previously limited the number of doses flowing into Queens, delaying opening day for a vaccine site at Citi Field. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mets owner Steve Cohen had announced the planned opening of a 24/7 hub at the ballpark to great fanfare last month. 

When the site finally opened Wednesday, just 200 doses were available and city officials were forced to turn people away. 

“They don’t care about Queens,” said one senior who has tried and failed to make an appointment throughout the past three weeks.