Gov. Andrew
Cuomo visited a vaccine pop-up site at the William Reid Houses in East Flatbush
on Saturday, where he underscored the
safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and urged people to get it.
The governor
says one of the biggest issues the state is facing is to convince people in
some of the hardest hit neighborhoods to actually get the vaccine.
He says there is a lack of trust and lack of accessibility, which is why they
are focusing on getting sites open at NYCHA complexes across the city.
Cuomo says New York still needs help from the federal government.
The governor says all of the vaccines that were sent for weeks one through five
have been used, and the state is now starting to receive a total of 240,000
doses for the next week.
He says 7 million people are eligible for the vaccine, but at the current
amount of weekly doses the city is getting, it will take months to vaccine
everyone who is currently eligible.
He says the focus right now is on the elderly, especially those in lower-income
communities, who he says are eligible but skeptical.
“It is safe,” Cuomo says.
“Yes, the Black community in particular has reasons
to be skeptical….but that’s not the cases with this vaccine, take the vaccine.
It will save lives, it can save your life.”
Cuomo says they are working with churches and housing authorities across the
state.
He says all 33 NYCHA senior developments will have the vaccine.
Cuomo announced 8,802 hospitalizations and 144 deaths across the state with
more than 13,000 new positive
cases on Friday.