NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A mass COVID-19 vaccination site opened at Citi Field in Queens on Wednesday.
The site will serve Queens residents, as well as Taxi and Limousine Commission-licensed drivers and food delivery workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The site, which opened at 10 a.m., will operate 24 hours a day from Wednesday to Saturday.
The site will only administer about 200 doses a day to start but aims to eventually vaccinate up to 7,000 people a day.
Eligible Queens residents can make an appointment online at vaccinefinder.nyc.gov or by calling 877-VAX-4NYC.
At a press conference Wednesday, de Blasio appeared outside the stadium with the Mr. and Mrs. Met mascots, as well as Mets and local officials.
Wearing a Mets cap, the mayor declared, "It's opening day at Citi Field."
"It will soon be opening day for baseball, but today it's opening day for the people of this city, the people of Queens, to get vaccinated," de Blasio said, noting that the site will also serve taxi drivers and food service workers who "bore the brunt of the coronavirus."
The mayor said the site will start off vaccinating a few days a week but will then go to seven days a week. He said that by next week the site will be able to do 4,000 vaccinations per day, with the eventual goal of 35,000 vaccinations per week.
"This is a home run for our borough," Queens borough President Donovan Richards said at the press conference.
Transit officials announced that the Long Island Rail Road will make an additional stop at Mets-Willets Point on all Port Washington Branch trains to help transport people to and from the vaccination site. The additional stop at Mets-Willets Point will be made indefinitely around the clock for as long as the vaccination site remains open.
"The service that we're running will be 24/7, seven days a week as long as Citi Field is a vaccine site," LIRR President Phillip Eng told 1010 WINS. "The workforce is excited about supporting it. They continue to do everything they can to help Long Island and New York beat this pandemic."
Citi Field is also served by the 7 subway train and Q48 bus.
Last week, a vaccination site opened at Yankee Stadium for Bronx residents only.
