‘This is about equity’
City opens COVID-19 vaccine site for the elderly in Red Hook
BY MARK HALLUM
Elderly New Yorkers can
now head to the Red Hook
Neighborhood Senior Center,
where the city has erected a
new COVID-19 vaccination
site, according to Mayor Bill
de Blasio.
“This is about equity. It is
about creating recovery for all
of us. When I say recovery for
all of us, that means we are not
here to just replace the status
quo that was before the pandemic.
We are here to change
that. And that means making
sure that something as precious
as the vaccine goes to
the communities hardest to
get, making sure they get the
priority they deserve,” de Blasio
said. “It’s just a beautiful
thing when you hear people
say now they can start to feel
they’re going to be okay we’re
going to be safe.”
Expected to give those
who qualify 80 to 100 per day,
elected leaders discussed a
disproportionate distribution
of the vaccine that has largely
proven to have left out people
of color, thus far since the fi rst
batches arrived in New York
in mid-December.
“If we – the city and the nation
IN SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS AWARDED ANNUALLY
COURIER L 10 IFE, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021
– do not address the systemic
and structural inequality
that we have seen in every
aspect of our society. We cannot
crush the virus unless we
target those mostly impacted
by the virus: frontline workers
who have no luxury of being
able to stay home and work
at their computers,” Velazquez
said. “But it is just morally
wrong that only 2-to-3 percent
of people of color have been
able to get the vaccine.”
Located at 120 W. Ninth
St., the de Blasio administration
expects this site to provide
vaccine access to the New
York City Housing Authority
residents in Red Hook East
and Red Hook West.
Both de Blasio and Governor
Andrew Cuomo have raced
to set up mass vaccination sites
in recent weeks with a major
one rolling at Citi Field and another
promised for Staten Islanders.
But said growth also
has coincided with logistical
fi ascos in delivering the vaccine
to states due to inclement
whether this month.
The average seven-day positivity
rate in New York City
was reportedly 7.31 percent,
according to the de Blasio administration.
Statewide, the
governor reported 2.99 percent
positivity — the lowest since
since Nov. 23.
To book an appointment, go
to www.vaccinefi nder.nyc.gov
or call 1-877-VAX-4NYC.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tours the vaccine site. Photo by Dean Moses
BEST NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
BEST BUSINESS
SCHOOL
THE PRINCETON REVIEW
BEST NORTHEASTERN
UNIVERSITY
THE PRINCETON REVIEW
APPLY TODAY AT LIU.EDU/APPLY
/nder.nyc.gov
/www.vaccinefi
/www.vaccinefi
/APPLY