A 24/7 vaccine hub is coming to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
The waterfront manufacturing campus on Second Avenue and 58th Street will serve as the biggest vaccination operation in Kings County once it opens on Sunday, vaccinating qualified New Yorkers around the clock.
“These are going to be the mass vaccination sites, the mega sites that are going to allow us to do 24/7, thousands of people in the day,” de Blasio said during a daily press briefing.
The Army Terminal site will be open by appointment only to prevent crowds, the mayor said.
“We need people to make appointments, we do not want long lines,” he said. “We do want people pre-certified.”
The hubs, along with smaller sites in Brooklyn such as the Bushwick Educational Campus which are set to come online this weekend, are set to make progress towards the mayor’s goal of administering 1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by Febuary.
By the last week of January, the city expects to be doling out 400,000 shots a week, the mayor said Wednesday.
The city and state have struggled thus far in administering the vaccine, with only about 33 percent of the state’s allotted 900,000 vaccines administered as of Wednesday morning, according to state data.
De Blasio on Wednesday said he wants to expand eligibility for the vaccine to all persons over 75 in order to ensure the city can vaccinate as many people as possible after finding 30 to 40 percent of those who currently qualify for the shot are “hesitant” to take it. The mayor needs permission from the state to expand the eligibility.
“Folks over 75 are the most vulnerable in this crisis, right now we are not allowed to vaccinate them under state rules,” de Blasio said. “We need the freedom and flexibility so that we can start vaccinating folks over 75 right away, that freedom to vaccinate means reaching our seniors in need.”
