Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, surrounded by a group of local reverends, public officials and health care professionals, opened the new coronavirus vaccination center at York College in Jamaica, Queens on Wednesday morning — one of two new sites designated to provide what the governor described as “not just access, but equitable access” for underserved communities.
The two sites — the one at York College and another at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights, Brooklyn — will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily and Cuomo pledged that for the first week they will serve only people in nearby communities.
“We’re going to do a lot of good, we’re going to save lives at this site,” Cuomo said, addressing a crowd gathered at York College. He added, “The vaccination is the light at the end of the tunnel. It is the weapon we know that works.”
Cuomo said COVID-19 has killed “twice as many Black people as white people” and “1½ times as many Hispanic people as white people” — exposing healthcare inequities in the process.
Cuomo said that while he understands the lack of trust in minority communities, especially the Black community, regarding the safety of the vaccine, that shouldn’t stop anyone from being vaccinated. He stressed that the vaccinations are safe.
State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) received his vaccination to help open the facility at York College. And Bishop Calvin Rice of New Jerusalem Worship Center in Jamaica said he had already received both of his COVID-19 vaccination shots, explaining: “We’ve seen what our communities look like fighting COVID without the vaccine and it’s painful.”
