All students returning to in-person instruction at SUNY and CUNY schools in New York this fall must be vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday.
In addition, people who get vaccinated at select Long Island Rail Road and New York City subway locations beginning this Wednesday through Sunday will receive free round-trip LIRR rides at the railroad stations, and MetroCards at the subway stations, as an incentive. They will receive the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The vaccinations will be available from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Penn Station and the Hempstead LIRR station.
“Everybody should be doing everything they can to get people vaccinated,” Cuomo said during a briefing in his Manhattan office.
Cuomo said the pilot program could be adjusted for different days, time and locations depending on the response.
“We want to see how it works,” he said. “It’s never been done before.”
Even as the rate of new positive COVID-19 cases in the state continues to drop, the number of people getting vaccinated has also dropped, Cuomo said, mirroring a trend across the nation.
“As the vaccination rate goes up, the positivity rate goes down,” he said. “It’s the one global fact that everybody agrees on.”
More than 9.6 million people in New York have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 7.8 million have been fully vaccinated, Cuomo said.
According to the CDC, 45.8% of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 34.4% have been fully vaccinated.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
