3 Mass Vaccination Sites Opening On LI This Week

LONG ISLAND, NY — Three new mass coronavirus vaccination sites will open on Long Island Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. Cuomo also announced the Bethpage Air Show will return to Jones Beach this summer, a boon for the local economy.

The mass vaccination sites will open at SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Stony Brook Southampton and Suffolk County Community College. The sites will begin accepting appointments Wednesday; priority will be given to people 60 and over.

Cuomo toured the new SUNY Old Westbury site with local faith and business leaders Monday.

"The vaccination is the weapon that wins this war," Cuomo said, adding President Joe Biden accelerated the vaccine rollout in the hope of making everyone eligible by May 31.

"But that doesn't mean we will have enough to vaccinate everyone by May 31," Cuomo said. "The vaccination task is massive."

Also on Wednesday, a new group of New Yorkers will be eligible to book vaccine appointments. The group includes public-facing government employees, nonprofit workers who provide public-facing services to New Yorkers in need, and essential building service workers. More specifically, it includes workers like public works employees, social service and child service caseworkers, government inspectors, sanitation workers, DMV workers, county clerks, building service workers and election workers.

Two million New Yorkers were fully vaccinated as of Monday and there are 15 million more to go.

"We have a long way to go," Cuomo said.

He said he plans to receive a Johnson & Johnson vaccination at a pop-up center in a church in a Black community to "make the point that it is safe."

Cuomo said it is critical to fairly distribute the vaccine to Black and Hispanic communities.

"COVID discriminated," he said, adding it has killed two times as many Black people and 1.5 as many Hispanic people. "COVID preyed on underlying health disparities in health care deserts ... When it comes to the vaccine, we have to correct that injustice."

Faith and NAACP leaders accompanied Cuomo Monday to echo the call for those underserved communities to get the vaccine.

On Long Island, 11 percent of the community is Black and only 5 percent of that community has taken the vaccine — or half of those eligible, Cuomo said. The Hispanic community comprises 17 percent of the population and only 8 percent of that community has received the vaccine.

"We have to fix that," Cuomo said. "There is a trust problem. I would not recommend taking the vaccine if it was not safe. There is a risk to not taking the vaccine."

Kristen Jarnagin, president and CEO of Discover Long Island, applauded the return of the Bethpage Air Show.

Tourism has been the hardest hit industry on Long Island, she said. Of 100,000 tourism jobs, 30,000 were lost to the pandemic, she said, adding she is proud how businesses like restaurants pivoted to takeout and setting up outdoor dining igloos. She said vaccines are the way to return to normalcy — as are events such as the air show.

"We are going to have our Long Island summer," she said.