De Blasio Details ‘Herculean’ Upcoming Coronavirus Vaccine Effort

NEW YORK CITY — A massive effort will mobilize as soon as the coronavirus vaccine arrives in New York City and distribute the life-saving shots quickly and equitably, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised.

De Blasio on Friday detailed the city’s plans for the vaccination drive, which will begin as soon as the federal government approves a Pfizer-developed vaccine.

The first vaccine shipment is expected Monday — perhaps even earlier — when the city will open a “vaccine command center” to coordinate the effort, provide real-time updates to New Yorkers and focus on getting doses to 27 communities that were hardest hit by the coronavirus, de Blasio said.

“This is going to be a herculean effort,” he said.

Front line health care workers and New Yorkers living and working in nursing homes will remain the first people to get the doses.

But the plans outlined by de Blasio and other city officials look ahead to getting shots to other prioritized groups — older New Yorkers, people with underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable, essential workers — as soon as possible.

New Yorkers don’t always have patience, but the city will tell its residents when and where to get doses in “real-time” as they roll into the city over the next weeks and months, de Blasio said.

He also emphasized that the effort will address how the pandemic didn’t affect New Yorkers the same because of fundamental inequalities going back decades.

“How we distribute this vaccine is part of writing those wrongs,” he said. “And that means prioritizing the 27 neighborhoods of this city that bore the brunt of this crisis. Black communities, Latino communities, Asian communities that went through very worst and making sure that the folks in those communities that are most vulnerable yet the vaccine early in the distribution.”

Torian Easterling, the city health department’s chief equity officer, said the effort will address “parallel pandemics” — the coronavirus, racial injustice and social and economic instability.

He said health officials will listen to communities that were disproportionately affected by the virus. Those New Yorkers won’t have to come to far-flung city-run locations to get their vaccines, he said.

“Instead, we’ll meet New Yorkers where they live,” he said.

The city will host vaccination events in houses of worship, community center, NYCHA homes and other easy-to-reach, popular locations, Easterling said.

He said the city will also partner with 200 community organizations to earn New Yorkers’ trust over the vaccine.

“We recognize that there is no reopening without gaining your trust and helping New Yorkers make an informed decision about accepting the vaccine,” he said. “For that to happen there be healing in our communities. It has to be a partnership with a shared goal of recognizing and repairing a legacy that has compromised the health of too many New Yorkers. We will hold ourselves accountable for racial oppression within our systems, we will engage our people and organizations in New York to make New York safe.”

Melanie Hartzog, deputy mayor for health and human services, said a soon-to-open vaccine command center will act as an “air traffic control” for all city agencies engaged in the vaccination effort.

It will solve problems that arise in real time, such as vaccines not showing up to certain community sites, she said.

“We would shift resources and work directly with trusted community voices to not only educate but build the infrastructure to give the vaccines,” she said.

De Blasio said New York City does things “big” and the vaccination effort will be no exception.

“We're going to do a big, fast distribution of this vaccine,” he said. “When it comes in we're going to get it right out to the people who need it and keep going and going and going. As much vaccine as we get we're going to get to the people as quickly as possible.”