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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that 11 new community-based pop-up vaccination sites will be coming online this week 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 3,000 people this week, with more sites expected to open up in the coming weeks. Since the community-based pop-up sites starting going online last month more than 30,000 New Yorkers have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Long Island, sites will be opened at the Gerald Ryan Outreach Center on Straight Path in Wyandanch on Friday, Feb. 12, with the second at the Magnolia Center on Magnolia Boulevard in Long Beach on Thursday, Feb. 11.
Cuomo said that the sites will be re-established in three weeks to administer the second doses to those who receive the first this week.
"The vaccine is the weapon that will win the war against COVID, however, to be truly effective, we must ensure it is distributed fairly and equitably," Cuomo said. "The sad truth is that not only has COVID devastated communities of color on a much larger scale than white ones, but there continues to be skepticism towards the vaccine itself, especially in the Black community.
"That's why this effort continues to be so critical to our success -- by setting up these sites and partnering directly with the leaders and organizations who are trusted voices in these communities, we can simultaneously ensure access to the vaccine, while instilling confidence in it as well."
The pop-up sites receive a limited amount of the vaccine, which is earmarked for certain members of the community, officials noted.
Vaccination sites are 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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