Javits Center Vaccine Hub Closing As Pandemic Slows, Cuomo Says

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — The mass-vaccination site at the Jacob Javits Convention Center will close Friday after nearly six months in operation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday, marking a milestone in the pandemic fight.

The Javits hub opened in January at the beginning of the vaccine rollout, initially serving only New York residents age 65 or older as well as health care workers.

It was something of a full-circle moment for the giant Hell's Kitchen building, which had been converted into an emergency hospital during last spring's COVID-19 surge. The hospital closed in May 2020.

By Wednesday, Javits had vaccinated more than 648,000 New Yorkers, according to a spokesperson for the governor's office — more than any other site in the state. Vaccinating well over 10,000 people on some days, the Javits Center set its own record in early March when it administered 13,713 doses in a 24-hour period in March.

The Javits Center site is closing this week along with two other mass-vaccination sites at Suffolk County Community College and SUNY Ulster. They join other sites that began closing in late June as the state "downscales" its mass-vaccination operations in favor of more targeted outreach.

"We have achieved great progress in beating back the virus and getting enough New Yorkers vaccinated in order to begin getting back to life as we know it, and our mass vaccination sites were key in helping us get here," Cuomo said in a statement.

"We are eternally grateful to our health providers and our partners who continue to do the necessary work to get more shots into people's arms, and if you still need to get your shot, the best way that you can show your gratitude is to walk into a site near you and roll up your sleeve."

As of Wednesday, about 61 percent of New York state residents had gotten at least one vaccine dose, including 55 percent who are fully vaccinated.

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