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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday, March 15 that sites were being set up at:
- SUNY Old Westbury,
- Suffolk Community College’s Brentwood campus,
- SUNY Stony Brook Southampton.
The sites will be open beginning Friday, March 19 and those eligible can begin making appointments at those sites beginning at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, March 17.
- The SUNY Old Westbury site will be at the Clark Center - Gate C on Store Hill Road and Cherry Road;
- The Suffolk County Community College site will be at the Suffolk Federal Credit Union Arena on Crooked Hill Road;
- The SUNY Stony Brook site will be at its Southampton campus on Tuckahoe Road.
“We’re walking through as they prep this mass vaccination site,” Cuomo said during a visit to SUNY Old Westbury on Monday. “It’s amazing how different this world is … there was nothing called a mass vaccination site several months ago.
“It’s a whole new language … this looks like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s how we live now.”
Cuomo said that mass vaccination sites are the key to “getting shots in arms” and that just two million New Yorkers have been vaccinated so far, with about 15 million more soon to be eligible.
“This is the hardest operational and logistical operation we’ve ever dealt with before,” he added. “This is a major task, and the single most effective vaccination mechanism is a mass vaccination site.”
Cuomo said that through Wednesday, New Yorkers 60 and older will remain the priority, but come March 17, a new class of essential workers becomes eligible, meaning that making an appointment may become even more difficult.
The governor said that he plans to get the vaccine at a pop-up center in a Black community in the coming days to make the point that it’s safe. He also said he plans to take the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to prove that it’s safe.
“New Yorkers have displayed discipline and dedication following the rules and slowing the spread, and now that we have the vaccine, those efforts are paying off," Cuomo said. "We're committed to quickly expanding the state's vaccine distribution network to get shots in arms as quickly and efficiently as possible, and these three sites will help Long Islanders access the vaccine and gain some peace of mind as we continue battling the pandemic.
“We'll continue expanding our distribution network and vaccinating more New Yorkers as the state receives more supply, and those efforts will help us ensure the state moves through this challenging time together."
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