Yankee Stadium COVID vaccination site opening Friday to Bronx residents
ALBANY — While Opening Day is still months away, Yankee Stadium will soon be bustling with activity as the ballpark welcomes Bronx residents for COVID vaccinations beginning Friday, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio announced Wednesday.
The stadium will serve as a mass vaccination site, run through a partnership between the state, city, the Yankees, SOMOS Community Care and the New York National Guard, with the capacity to inoculate as many as 15,000 people per week, officials said.
It’s scheduled to operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Vaccinations will be appointment only and are reserved for Bronx residents who are eligible to be immunized.
“The New York Yankees recognize the devastating effect COVID-19 has had on our borough, and it is our privilege to have Yankee Stadium as a host site for providing vaccines to Bronx residents,” the team said in a statement.
The Bronx has consistently reported the highest COVID test positivity rate in the city in recent weeks. According to state data, the Bronx had a 6.31% seven-day average of positive test results as of Tuesday, more than a full percentage point higher than any other borough.
The governor said the site is part of the state’s push to target areas with higher positivity rates and bring vaccines to minority communities that have been adversely impacted by the pandemic.
“It’s abundantly clear that Black, Latino and poor communities have been hit the hardest by COVID, and the Bronx is no exception,” Cuomo said. “Our efforts to target vaccinations by locations with higher positivity rates have been working to not only keep the infection rate down, but to help ensure equity in our vaccine distribution process.”
The state has administered 1,432,195, or 92%, of the 1,554,450 first doses sent by the feds and 77% of first and second doses, according to the Department of Health.
Data released by the city over the weekend revealed that the number of white New Yorkers who have been vaccinated outpace Black recipients by more than four-to-one and Asian and Latino recipients by more than three-to-one.
The mayor initially announced that the city intended to use The House that Ruth Built as well as Citi Field in Queens as mass vaccination sites over three weeks ago, but limited supply from the federal government stalled those plans.
The Biden administration announced this week it will be increasing weekly allotments of doses going out to states by about 20%, making the Yankee Stadium site possible.
“Yankee Stadium has always been known for its World Series banners, but now it’ll be recognized as a place where the people of the surrounding community in the Bronx can receive the vaccine doses that they need and deserve,” de Blasio said. “This is about justice and standing up for the neighborhoods that were hardest hit by COVID-19.”
