- New York officials are setting up temporary COVID-19 vaccination clinics from May 12 to May 16
- Six subway stations in NYC and two commuter rail stations in Long Island and Westchester County will offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
- Those who receive the shot will either get a free seven-day MetroCard or two free LIRR/Metro-North tickets
- Although coronavirus cases and death rates have been falling, vaccination rates have been lagging
- On Sunday, New York City administered 15,658 vaccine doses, the lowest daily total seen since February 2
New York officials are trying to boost falling COVID-19 vaccination rates by setting up temporary clinics at eight subway and train stations.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that from May 12 to May 16, residents can get vaccinated at six subway stations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
Sites will also be set up at the Long Island Rail Road station in Hempstead and the Metro-North Railroad station in Ossining, a village in Westchester County.
Those who get a shot of the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine will either get a free seven-day MetroCard or two free LIRR/Metro-North tickets.
‘You are walking into the subway station anyway, you are walking past the vaccination site, it’s a one-shot vaccination, stop, take a few minutes, get the vaccine,’ Cuomo said during a press conference.
‘We have a lot of theories, we’re going to test them. It is a creative idea – because we have to get the vaccinations up.’
Cuomo added that if the pilot program is a success, it will be continued passed Sunday.
New Yorkers an visit any one of the following sites to receive their free vaccine:
- 179th Street-Jamaica station, Queens, 8am-1pm
- Broadway Junction station, Brooklyn, 3pm-8pm
- Coney Island, Brooklyn, 8am-1pm
- East 180th Street Station, the Bronx, 8am-1pm
- Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall, Manhattan, 8am-1pm
- Penn Station, 34th Street Corridor, Manhattan, 3pm-8pm
- Hempstead LIRR station, 3pm-8pm
- Ossining Metro North station, 3pm-8pm
According to data from the city’s department of Health and Mental Hygiene, about 53 percent of the Big Apple’s 8.2 million resident have received at least one dose.
But the pace has slowed in New York and elsewhere as most people who wanted to be vaccinated have been.
Officials face a challenge convincing the reluctant to get inoculated to reach the threshold for societal immunity.
This has led to governments and business rolling out a number of incentives urging people to get vaccinated.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that officials will give out free tickets to attractions such as the New York Aquarium and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to vaccinated people.
In nearby New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy unveiled the ‘shot and a beer’ campaign in which residents who received their first dose in May got a free beer at participating breweries.
Even nationwide doughnut chain Krispy Kreme offered a free original glazed doughnut for customers wo show a valid COVID-19 vaccination card that can be redeemed once per day per person through 2021.
Although vaccinations have helped drive down the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 cases by 75 percent from 3,604 one month ago to 867, the pace of vaccinations has slowed.
On Sunday, New York City administered 15,658 doses, the lowest daily total seen since February 2.
In New York City, officials said they are planning to administer Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine to children ages 12 to 15, which was authorized on Monday afternoon.
‘We want to immediately get to work vaccinating young people,’ de Blasio said at a news conference on Monday.
