State Plans Pop-up COVID-19 Vaccination Pod In Suffolk

SHIRLEY, NY — Suffolk County’s Smith Point Park in Shirley will host one of 11 pop-up COVID-19 vaccination sites that are planned throughout the state in areas where vaccination rates are much lower, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

The pop-ups will open in areas where “zip code data shows the vaccination rate is significantly lower than the statewide average,” Cuomo said in a news release. The pop-up program will be expanded with additional sites in the coming weeks, according to Cuomo.

The pop-up will be held Friday.

Cuomo said the state’s vaccination progress has been “instrumental” in reopening the economy and lifting many restrictions, “but the vaccination rate has slowed dramatically and we need to focus on the places that have low vaccination rates.”

"Pop-up sites have been critical in helping us reach more New Yorkers with the vaccine, and with these 11 new sites we are redeploying our resources and working with local health departments across the state to target the areas that continue to lag on vaccinations,” he said. “The vaccine is safe and effective — and if we want to defeat this virus, we need to get more New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly as possible."

County Executive Steve Bellone said that to date roughly 70 percent of residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. He announced Monday that the county is offering incentives like free ice cream cones, as well as tickets to Splish Splash Water Park in Calverton, Adventureland Amusement Park in Farmingdale, and The Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead to encourage children and camp counselors to get vaccinated.

Other pop-up vaccination sites include Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, the Bronx, Finger Lakes, and Syracuse.

Cuomo’s office said that the announcement builds on the state’s commitment to bring the vaccine to communities across the state through pop-up vaccination sites. Over 250 community-based pop-up sites have administered more than 90,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since January.