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On Wednesday, March 17, Cuomo visited Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem, where he first addressed the public before taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in front of a fervent crowd of supporters at the pop-up vaccination site.
The event was live-streamed, but closed to reporters amid the sexual abuse and nursing home scandals surrounding the governor.
Cuomo made note that Blacks have died at a rate two times greater than whites during the pandemic, while Hispanics died at a clip 1.5 times greater.
“We have to get millions and millions of vaccines in arms; it’s probably the largest governmental undertaking that modern government has done,” the governor said. “That’s what we’re looking at, and it has to be done fairly.
“COVID discriminated … COVID may be race-blind, or ethnicity-blind, but it found the inequity in our society and it exploited the inequity,” Cuomo continued. “We saw the ugliness underneath. All the injustice rose to the top and we saw the inequity in our healthcare.”
Cuomo added that “communities that suffer the most should be the first on the vaccine line.”
“We have to get the word out,” he said. “Black and Hispanics already paid the price, and we have to get people vaccinated.
“This isn’t vaccine hesitancy … hesitancy is an amorphous term. Let’s be honest and call it what it is, it’s a lack of trust.”
Cuomo said that there is no reason to be concerned about the vaccine, and that he and his family are ready to receive the shot once it is their time.
"I told my mother to get it, my daughters, and today I'm taking the vaccine," he said. "And I'm taking the Johnson & Johnson because I want to make the point to take whatever vaccine you can get.
"They all work ... They're all safe, so don't try to pick one over the other. Just take whatever vaccine you can get."
Dr. Johnnie M. Green, Jr., the senior pastor at Mount Neboh Baptist Church, praised Cuomo for encouraging people of color and all New Yorkers to receive the vaccine.
"I'd like to thank Gov. Cuomo for coming here to get his shot, and that really says two things," he said. "We're all in this together, from members of this church, to myself, to this church, to the governor all New Yorkers ... we're all in this together.
"It's safe ... it's safe. It's safe enough for the governor, it's safe enough for me - I've taken both Pfizer shots, it's safe for Dr. Fauci, so it's safe for all of us."
Green added that he understood some people's hesitancy to take the vaccine, but made note that millions have already been vaccinated with no adverse effects reported.
"I can understand not wanting to be the first one to get the vaccine, but at this point, there have been more than 100 million vaccine doses administered, including President Biden and Vice President Harris," he said. "Please understand unequivocally that you're not the first, but we don't want you to be the last either."
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