Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state will close several mass vaccination sites now that over 70 percent of adult New Yorkers have received at least one COVID-19 shot.
Upstate locations at Corning, Oneonta, Potsdam and York College in Jamaica, Queens will close on Monday, June 21 as the state starts to “downscale” larger sites and instead “shift their resources for localized vaccination efforts.”
“Our network of mass vaccination sites administered the biggest throughput of vaccinations in a short period of time, and thanks to their success we hit the milestones we needed to hit to get back to life as we know it,” said Governor Cuomo, adding the state will instead focus on boosting vaccination rates in zip codes showing low inoculation rates.
The Empire State hit the 70 percent vaccination rate for individuals over 18 Tuesday, triggering the lifting of coronavirus restrictions like capacity limits, mask wearing and cleaning requirements in most industries.
“Our statewide progress has been remarkable, but we still need to get more shots into people’s arms, particularly in areas that are still lagging on vaccinations. We have to go where the need is greatest, and so many of our mass sites will gradually start downscaling so that we can use our resources to target communities where vaccination rates are still low,” he said.
There are nearly 30 mass vaccination sites run either solely by the state or through a partnership with the federal government, officials said.