Citi Field Vaccination Site To Open This Week

FLUSHING, QUEENS — A 24-hour coronavirus vaccination site that had been scheduled to open last month at Citi Field stadium will finally open Wednesday morning, after city officials postponed its opening due to a vaccine supply shortage, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The COVID-19 vaccination site will specifically serve Queens residents, food delivery workers and Taxi and Limousine Commission-licensed drivers, de Blasio said during a news conference Monday.

Half of the available doses will be reserved for TLC licensees and food delivery workers, and half will be reserved for Queens residents who meet the current vaccine eligibility criteria.

The site will be open around the clock Wednesday through Saturday, and the goal is to make it fully 24/7, de Blasio said.

"We're going to continue to build out, but we need supply," he said. "We need supply to keep making these efforts go farther and farther."

For delivery workers, de Blasio said there will be "checks and balances" to confirm eligibility but did not elaborate on what that means in practice.

The Workers Justice Project — which fights for better working conditions for low-wage, immigrant New Yorkers, including food delivery workers — said that could be an issue, because many delivery workers may not have a way to prove their eligibility.

Hey @NYCMayor—Now the problem is how #Deliveristas can proof they are doing this work?

Many #deliveryworkers won’t be able to proof unless are allowed to get letter of support from orgs like @workersjusticep.

FY @cmenchaca @cmenchaca @JustinBrannan https://t.co/9KIzn0blC4
— Workers Justice (@workersjusticep) February 8, 2021

The mega-site at the New York Mets baseball stadium was due to start offering vaccinations the week of Jan. 25, but its opening was indefinitely postponed as supply dwindled.

The site would have the capacity to inoculate 5,000 to 7,000 people a day, de Blasio said when he announced the plans in mid-January. It is unclear whether that still holds true.

A vaccination site catering to Bronx residents opened at Yankee Stadium last week.

Eligible people can make vaccine appointments here or by calling 877-VAX-4NYC.