NYC delays Queens Village vaccine site opening

A vaccine site at Martin Van Buren High School is scheduled to open next week. Photo via Google maps

By Rachel Vick

New York City has delayed the opening of a mass vaccination site in Queens Village due to a limited number of doses, said Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday.

Health workers were supposed to begin administering vaccines at Martin Van Buren High School on Thursday but snow storms nationwide prevented vaccine shipments from arriving in New York, de Blasio said. The site will not open until at least Feb. 21, he said.

“Due to the outrageous vaccine supply shortage and shipments delayed by storms, New York City is forced to delay the opening of our vaccination sites,” de Blasio said.

“I cannot be clearer: we have the infrastructure in place to deliver half a million doses per week. All that’s missing is the supply to get it done.”

The announcement comes as elected officials and everyday residents across Queens have called for more vaccine sites in places with few inoculation locations.

In Queens Village’ zip code 11429, just  6 percent of 26,000 adults have received two vaccine does. Just north in Bellerose/Douglaston-Little Neck, more than 20 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. 
The city’s “vaccine-finder” website plots four sites where vaccines are administered within two miles of the school. There are two pharmacies in Queens Village administering vaccines.