Nassau To Start COVID Vaccine Pop-Ups In Hardest-Hit Communities

HEMPSTEAD, NY — Nassau County will begin a series of pop-up vaccine distribution clinics on Monday, which the county said will help distribute vaccines to eligible people in some of the hardest-hit areas of the county.

The first pop-up inoculation site will be at the Union Baptist Church in Hempstead. Because of limited vaccine supplies, the county will be inoculating about 150 people, which have all already been approved and scheduled. The shots will be going to church congregants who are over 65.

“Nassau County is committed to an equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said in a statement. "As part of our efforts, the county is working closely with trusted messengers to build confidence in an equitable process, and with established partners to directly increase access in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. The county will continue to vaccinate as many residents as we can across all communities so we can definitively win this war, get our lives back, and get our economy roaring."

The county currently operates two vaccine distribution sites: one at Nassau Community College in Garden City and one at the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury. There is also a state-run site at Jones Beach.

Curran said that county is planning to do similar vaccine pop-ups in the future at other houses of worship and community centers in other hard-hit areas.

Hempstead has been the hardest-hit community in Nassau County throughout the pandemic. It has recorded nearly 4,400 positive cases of the coronavirus — more than any other community.

Cases across Nassau County have been climbing at an alarming rate since December. Every day of January has seen more than 1,000 positive cases, with an average of more than 1,400 cases per day as of Jan. 13. So far, there have been 18,666 positive cases confirmed in Nassau County in January, and 107 deaths.