COVID-19 vaccine rollout at Citi Field
brings few shots but much confusion
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 12-FEB. 18, 2021 17
BY DEAN MOSES
The New York Mets’ home,
Citi Field, opened up Wednesday,
Feb. 10, as a mass COVID-
19 vaccination site — but the
grand opening wasn’t a home
run for everyone.
This latest super center
was set to distribute a limited
amount of vaccination doses
Wednesday morning. The
schedule will run Mondays
through Saturdays, each day
allotting 200 appointments
with 100 prioritized to the TLC
and food service workers.
But that didn’t stop scores
of people from showing up
Wednesday morning, buoyed
by some false hope about
the site serving exclusively
Queens residents; in fact, it
is designed to serve Queens
residents as well as essential
workers citywide.
Amidst the line of people
admitted to receive their first
dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,
droves of individuals were
turned away — many of them
immigrants or seniors, or having
pre-existing conditions
that make them particularly
vulnerable to the virus.
The refusals were emotional
for many; some wept when
they realized they wouldn’t
get the vaccine at least on
Wednesday. One woman,
about 80 years of age could be
seen arguing with NYPD officers
outside the stadium’s gate
brandishing medical records,
begging to be let inside.
“It says for Queens residents,
I am from Queens. I
have cancer, I could die if you
let me leave,” pleaded Elba
Marchena.
Confusion continued
throughout the morning as
more people arrived, some
grasping what they said were
proof of appointments, only
for them to also be denied entry
after waiting on line. One
visitor claimed to have been
outside the coliseum since the
early hours of the morning.
“I made an appointment but
they can’t find me in the system.
I am so frustrated,” Carmen
Ramos said. “I’ve been
standing on this line since
6:45 a.m., and they checked in
the registry and I had a confirmation
but I just can’t find
it in my phone and now I did
all of this for nothing? I’m a
healthcare worker! This is
so disorganized and I’m very
upset right now,” she said
storming away.
According to an NYPD
source who spoke with officials
on the inside of the
stadium, the misinformation
seemed to have spread
due to language barriers and
computer illiteracy.
Once hearing that the makeshift
hub would be serving solely
Queens residents, many mistakenly
presumed they could
simply arrive without first
booking an appointment.
Moreover, those who exhibited
what they believed to
be appointment sheets had
merely registered and had
yet to be assigned a date to be
inoculated.
New Yorkers can make a
vaccine appointment at Citi
Field through the city’s vaccine
hub; individuals with
pre-existing conditions who
are under 65 can begin seeking
out appointments on the
vaccine hubs for the city and
state on Feb. 14, with available
times as early as Feb. 15
available.
Despite the emotional rollercoaster
ride experienced by
some, those who did receive
the vaccine at Citi Field on
Wednesday felt as elated as
watching a Pete Alonso home
run fly out of the Flushing
ballpark.
Raisul Karim was the first
man to receive the vaccine
within the walls of Citi Field.
He emerged, gesturing a peace
sign and demonstrating a new
sense of safety.
“I feel like I’m the first one
and it’s like I’m safe. I’m serving
on the front line, that’s
why I feel like it’s a good time
to take the shot,” Karim said.
Karim is a yellow taxicab
driver and since he deals with
different customers every day,
including picking up those
from hotels throughout the
city, he feels better prepared
to start returning to normal
life. “I am working at front
desks at hotels with people
leaving, so I feel like I am serving
on the front line so it is a
good time to take the vaccine,”
Karim said.
Among the throngs of
people getting vaccinated and
attempting to get vaccinated,
Mayor Bill de Blasio and fellow
elected officials, Queens
Borough President Donovan
Richards, Council Member
Francisco Moya, State Senator
Jessica Ramos, and Mets
Owner and CEO Steve Cohen
toured the vaccination site
before holding a conference to
commemorate the day in the
shadow of the stadium itself.
“It is opening day at Citi
Field. It will soon be opening
day for baseball, but today it’s
opening day for the people of
Queens to get vaccinated,” de
Blasio said during a press conference
at Citi Field. “When
vaccinations are here, people
will come here. If you build
it, they will come. We need to
show people that vaccinations
are what will make everyone
safe,” he added.
According to the mayor,
Citi Field is starting to distribute
vaccines a few days
a week, and then will be
pushed to seven-day-a-week
service. Once they are able to,
Citi Field will be distributed
vaccines 24/7.
“By next week, we will be
able to do 4,000 doses at this
site, but if we had enough vaccine
supply we will be doing
5,000 vaccine doses a day here
at Citi Field,” de Blasio said,
estimating that they could
potentially inoculate 35,000
people per week at the site.
While de Blasio says he
can see the relief on the faces
of those who were vaccinated,
he acknowledged the anguish
of those who came to Citi Field
Wednesday for a vaccine, but
were turned away. Still, he
said, people need to follow the
process to get the COVID-19
vaccine.
“There is no such thing as
‘walk up and get a vaccination’
anywhere because we do
not want longlines anywhere,”
he said in response to Schneps
Media’s question about the
rejected patients. “We do not
want people congregating together.
It’s really important
that people make appointments.
We’ve been saying that
for weeks and weeks.”
The mayor blamed the
lack of supplies as the reason
for why it is so hard to make
an appointment. He still encourages
individuals to keep
signing up because each week
there are new shipments of
vaccines.
City Councilman Francisco
Moya has been aiding two
of the hardest hit districts in
Queens, East Elmhurst and
Corona by hosting bilingual,
virtual town halls to provide
information about the vaccination
process and how to
register.
“There needs to be a system
in place where the zip codes
that have had the highest rates
of COVID, the highest rates of
death, should be prioritized as
they go or else we have people
from all over coming, which
we understand that, but we
need to have a system that will
literally prioritize the people
in this community that were
ravaged by COVID,” Moya
said. “So for me, it’s extremely
important the community like
Corona and East Elmhurst
that have suffered from the
pandemic don’t actually get
left out of this process.”
Moya will be holding another
virtual town hall with
medical professionals on
Thursday at 6:30pm, which
will be streamed live on his
Facebook page, facebook.com/
FranciscoMoyaNY
Although an exact number
couldn’t be determined, according
to eyewitnesses inside
and outside of the stadium, far
more people were sent home
without a vaccine then those
who received it.
Eligible New Yorkers can
make an appointment at nyc.
gov/vaccinefinder or by calling
877-VAX-4NYC.
Raisul Karim was the first man to receive the vaccine within the walls of Citi Field.
Photo by Dean Moses
/QNS.COM
/facebook.com
