NYC Postpones Vaccine Appointments As Winter Storm Approaches

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that scheduled vaccine appointments for Monday in the city would be postponed due to an impending winter storm that is expected to dump up to 16 inches of snow over the area.

At a press conference on Sunday, Mr de Blasio said he did not want older New Yorkers going to appointments for vaccines, warning of blizzard-like conditions with gusty winds. Winter storm warnings were in place Sunday for much of the eastern United States, affecting major metropolitan areas from Washington to Boston.

Vaccine appointments at multiple sites – the Javits Center in Manhattan, Aqueduct Racecourse in Queens, a drive-thru site at Jones Beach on Long Island, SUNY Stony Brook and the Westchester County Center – would be postponed see you this week, according to a statement. by Melissa DeRosa, one of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s main aides. “We ask all New Yorkers to watch the weather and stay off the roads tomorrow so that our teams and first responders can do their jobs safely,” she said.

In-person learning at New York City schools will also be closed on Monday.

The storm will temporarily derail a vaccine rollout in New York City that has been plagued by under-supply, buggy enrollment systems and confusion over strict state eligibility guidelines. In New York City, the vaccine is available to residents 65 years of age and older as well as a wide range of designated “essential” workers.

About 800,000 doses have been administered so far in the city, said de Blasio.

The vaccine rollout has also been plagued by stark racial disparities, with black and Latino residents receiving far fewer doses than white residents, according to de Blasio.

Demographics for the city were incomplete, but the numbers so far were striking: Of the nearly 300,000 city residents who received a dose and whose race was recorded, about 48 percent were white, 15 percent were Latino, 15 percent were Asian, and 11 percent were black. . Latino and black residents were under-represented: the city’s population is around 29% Latino and 24% black.

An attempt to bring more vaccination kits to underserved communities in Brooklyn and the Bronx, including churches and public housing sites, was also delayed for the storm this week, as six pop-up sites in the two boroughs were postponed to Wednesday, Ms. de Rosa said.