It was a rare sight to see: Mayor Bill de Blasio, a staunch Boston Red Sox fan, finally wearing a New York Yankees cap as he ushered the opening of a 24/7 mass vaccination site at Yankee Stadium on Friday.
"This is such an important day. The Yankees stepping up to save the lives of Bronxites, to save the lives of New Yorkers that for one day only I will declare myself a Yankee fan," de Blasio said at a news conference before putting on a Yankees cap - a sight as rare as an NYC visit of the snow owl.
De Blasio, flanked by Yankees management and top doctors at SOMOS Community Care health network, opened the doors to the House That Steinbrenner Built. Two vaccines are currently available to New Yorkers—one produced by Moderna, the other by Pfizer—and require two doses. Employees with SOMOS will be administering the shot at the site.
"This is about equity. This is about fairness," de Blasio said in remarks outside the stadium. "This is about protecting people who need the most protection because the Bronx is one of the places that bore the brunt of this crisis of the coronavirus. The Bronx has suffered, but this is a place where the people of the Bronx will now be protected. Yankee Stadium means so much to New Yorkers. It is iconic in every sense, but today it is a place of healing, a place of protection for the people of the Bronx."
Since the pandemic began, the city reported 5,486 COVID-19 deaths in the Bronx, with 4,531 confirmed and 955 deemed probable. The borough is home to 16 of the 33 ZIP codes the city has identified as the hardest hit by COVID.
The site won’t be operating 24/7 just yet as the vaccine shortage has kept the city from opening the stadium to full capacity. For now, the current hours of operation will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. So far, the site—opened exclusively for Bronx residents—has signed up 13,000 people. Long lines were already seen outside the stadium with some residents reportedly unaware that appointments needed to be made online or by phone.
Randy Levine, the Yankees general manager, said four ticket windows will be opened to help those make an appointment on site if they didn't realize they needed to make one before arriving to the stadium.
The vaccine shortage has delayed the opening of a 24/7 site at Citi Field, which de Blasio said will open "in a matter of days."
"We need supply. I want people to understand – right now, New York City is giving about a third of the vaccinations we could if we had supply. It's just troubling to me. It is deeply troubling that we could be right now doing 400,000, 500,000 vaccinations a week, and we can't get supply," de Blasio said.
"So, I'm saying to the federal government, you have to get the rest of the pharmaceutical industry into this fight. We need more help than just what we're getting from Pfizer and Moderna."
