Citi Field Coronavirus Vaccine Site Opening Is Postponed

FLUSHING, QUEENS — The city has indefinitely postponed the opening of a 24-hour coronavirus vaccination site at Citi Field in Queens due to a supply shortage, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

The mega-site at the New York Mets baseball stadium was due to start offering vaccinations this week, but its opening will be on hold until New York City gets more doses of the vaccine.

Plans for 24/7 vaccination sites at Yankee Stadium and Staten Island's Empire Outlets have also been paused.

New York City has 19,000 first doses remaining of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and is expecting a shipment of just 108,000 more doses this week, de Blasio said Monday. Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state was on pace to run out of vaccines.

"We have mega sites like Citi Field and Yankee Stadium ready to go," he said. "We want to get those to be full-blown, 24-hour operations, but we don't have the vaccine."

Just two weeks ago, de Blasio donned a Mets jersey and cap to announce plans for the upcoming vaccination site during a virtual news conference with Steve Cohen, the team's owner.

The around-the-clock site would have the capacity to inoculate 5,000 to 7,000 people a day, de Blasio said at the time.