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From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 10, there will be health officials administering first doses of the COVID vaccine at Mount Hope AME Zion Church on Lake Street in White Plains.
It is among 16 new community-based pop-up vaccination sites coming online at churches, community centers, public housing complexes, and cultural centers in downstate New York to “bolster the state’s commitment to ensuring fairness and equity in the vaccine distribution process.”
The sites are expected to vaccinate more than 7,100 people, with more sites expected to open up in the coming weeks. Since the community-based pop-up sites starting going online in January, more than 180 locations have vaccinated nearly 77,000 New Yorkers.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who received his Johnson & Johnson vaccine last month at a pop-up site in Harlem, said that the sites will be re-established in three weeks to administer the second doses to those who receive the first at the pop-up location.
"New York State is working tirelessly to vaccinate all eligible New Yorkers for COVID-19, but hesitancy remains a serious issue, especially in communities of color, as well as ones which have been historically underserved. That's why we've established pop-up vaccination sites to bring the vaccine directly to those communities in every region of the state," Cuomo said.
"These 16 pop-up sites in public housing developments, houses of worship, and community centers will administer thousands of shots in arms over the next week and get us closer to a post-COVID future."
The pop-up sites receive a limited amount of the vaccine, which is earmarked for certain members of the community, officials noted.
"We are continuing to set up community-based pop-up sites across our state because we remain committed to making sure the vaccine is accessible for all New Yorkers," Cuomo said. "These sites have allowed us to reach our hard-hit communities and to address the skepticism around the vaccine, and they have been instrumental in making the vaccine distribution more equitable."
Vaccination sites are also planned for all 33 NYCHA Senior Housing Developments, and at more than 300 churches and cultural centers that volunteered to house the sites.
“COVID brought the ugly truth of inequity and inequality in this country to a tipping point," Cuomo said. "COVID has killed Black and Latino New Yorkers at a higher rate and that is why these community-based sites are one of New York's vaccine priorities.
“The light at the end of the tunnel is bright and getting brighter with each new location and each shot administered."
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