Citi Field To Transform Into 24-Hour Coronavirus Vaccination Site

FLUSHING, QUEENS — Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, will temporarily transform into a "mega site" for coronavirus vaccinations starting this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

Starting the week of Jan. 25, the Queens baseball stadium will serve as a 24-hour vaccination site with the capacity to inoculate 5,000 to 7,000 people a day, according to de Blasio.

Vaccinations will take place inside the stadium's luxe Delta Club, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In announcing the news, de Blasio swallowed his Red Sox pride and performed a full costume change into a Mets jersey and hat.

“I want to be clear, we welcome Queens residents, we welcome all New Yorkers,” he said. “We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”

De Blasio had previously announced a "very likely" vaccination site in the Queens Theatre in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, part of plans to open 24/7 mass vaccination sites in each of the five boroughs.

That plan was nixed because the theater would not have been big enough to have all operations take place indoors, according to a City Hall spokesperson; the Citi Field vaccination site will be fully indoors.

The city's first 24/7 vaccination sites opened Sunday in Brooklyn and The Bronx. A third opened Tuesday at 125 Worth Street in Manhattan.

Another is slated to open Saturday at the New York City Department of Health clinic at 34-33 Junction Blvd. in Corona, according to City Hall officials.

The launch of the 24-hour vaccination sites comes as de Blasio's administration eyes a goal of administering 1 million vaccine doses by the end of the month.

“With more and more New Yorkers determined eligible by the State to be vaccinated all the time, we’re focused on continuing to ramp up our capacity for vaccination to meet demand," Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog said in a prepared statement. "With vaccine supply very limited, however, we urge New Yorkers scheduling appointments to be patient – and new sites like Citi Field will help us deliver on our promise of vaccines for all.”

Health care workers and New Yorkers aged 65 or older are among those now eligible to get vaccinated.

About 216,000 New York City residents had gotten vaccine doses as of Tuesday morning, according to city data.