NEW YORK (AP) - Yankee Stadium will open as a COVID-19 vaccination site on Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.
The vaccination mega-site will be run jointly by the city and state and will serve only Bronx residents, the two Democrats said.
“Yankee Stadium has always been known for its World Series banners, but now it’ll be recognized as a place where the people of the surrounding community in the Bronx can receive the vaccine doses that they need and deserve,” de Blasio, an ardent Boston Red Sox fan, said in a statement.
Plans to provide COVID-19 inoculations at Yankee Stadium and also Citi Field, the New York Mets’ home, were delayed by a lack of sufficient vaccine supply. No opening day for vaccinations at Citi Field has been announced.
The mayor and governor said 15,000 people can be vaccinated during the first week the Yankee Stadium site is open.
Restricting the stadium to Bronx residents is intended to boost vaccination rates in the New York City borough that has the highest percentage of positive coronavirus test results. Cuomo said in a statement that vaccinating Bronx residents at the stadium “is the perfect solution to helping this borough get vaccinated and defeat COVID once and for all.”
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