New York opens a macro vaccination center at Yankee Stadium to speed up the process

Neighbors from the Bronx were waiting outside Yankee Stadium on Friday to get vaccinated or get an appointment. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

Chiara Fronte, an Italian-American, 90 years old in August, left Yankee Stadium this Friday in a daze, in a wheelchair pushed by her son-in-law and escorted by two members of the National Guard.

He had received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on the first day of massive inoculation in the arena of the popular stadium, set up as a macro vaccination center to accelerate a process that is still limping.

At eight in the morning the first resident of the Bronx entered - only those registered in the district will be vaccinated - and at noon, the queue of patients mixed with that of those who aspired to meet, in the middle of a swarm of reservists, police officers locals, journalists and volunteers from various charities.

“I am a bit dizzy from so many laps I have been given, but I don't feel anything strange after the puncture, they kept me there waiting for a while and I had no reaction.

It's just that I'm too old for this mess, ”Fronte said after getting up from his chair.

“I am happy because if God wants I will be able to turn 90 years old, but very sad to see what this disease is causing everywhere.

It is a blessing to have been vaccinated ”.

On his chest he still wore the white sticker with the number that corresponded to him in the row, thinking that it would be useful for the second dose, the next day 26.

"We estimate that today [this Friday] about a thousand people will be vaccinated, and by next week we hope to reach a quota of 2,000," explained Ramón Tallaj, medical head of the deployment and president of Somos Community Care, a network well-known healthcare provider in the Bronx with a staff of 2,500 specialists spread throughout the city.

“The health workers who administer the vaccines are our doctors and nurses, and they live and work in the Bronx, because we must not forget that the residents of this district, Latinos, blacks, families with few resources, have been especially hit by the pandemic.

Neighbors know us, trust us, and for that I especially thank the Mayor of New York [Bill de Blasio] and Governor [Andrew Cuomo], as well as our Yankees, for choosing us for the job.

I can't imagine a better place than this stadium.

The reward is the face of happiness, relief and tranquility, which remains for everyone after the puncture ”, concludes Tallaj.

Dr. Tallaj runs two social clinics, one in the Bronx and one in Washington Heights, also with a high percentage of immigrant population.

"Apart from the vaccine, and all the hope that it implies to overcome this crisis, the fundamental message that we must transmit is the need to promote health, something that is especially important in this neighborhood."

The organization that presides serves the beneficiaries of Medicaid, the medical insurance that covers the needs of the most needy population.

The one in the Bronx, which in principle will operate twelve hours a day but aspires to do so 24 hours a day, is the first macro-center enabled in New York City, waiting for a sufficient number of doses to be collected to open a second at Citi Field, stadium located in another of the epicenters of the pandemic, the borough of Queens.

To these are added 35 new makeshift enclosures in churches, community centers and social housing complexes, already operational.

The problem of the supply of vials is the only brake on the pace that the authorities intend to impose on the process, when the country borders 26.5 million cases and 450,000 deaths.

The state and local governments also want vaccination campaigns in the Bronx and Queens to help reduce the alarming racial gap among those inoculated.

Francisca, a 73-year-old retiree of Dominican origin, found out this Thursday through the news that the vaccination was beginning, tried to get an appointment on the Somos website - the only one prepared for this purpose - and, not being able to do so because it was collapsed, decided to dedicate this Friday morning to waiting to sign up

on site

.

The line of those who were waiting to register turned around half a stadium at midmorning, inside which only the aforementioned could access.

"At last it seems that we see the end of this tragedy, I have no doubt that the only thing we can do is get vaccinated ... blessed vaccine.

But I also think that if I had to move to another district I would probably not wear it, because it is difficult for me to move.

It is a joy that they have opened this center right next to home ”.

There have been five cases of covid-19 in his family, and only three have recovered.

City Council officials reported this Thursday that there are still 15,000 appointments available for next week, since the opening of the stadium - several times postponed due to lack of stock of vials - was confirmed only on Wednesday, hence the authorities expect a greater influx next week.

"They are not taking them from our hands [the appointments]," complained on Twitter this Thursday Democratic councilman Mark Levine.

“So we have good news, the availability of appointments, and another bad news, that the information has not yet reached those interested.

The City Council should be informing the people in the streets ”.

The mayor's office has been the target of criticism for the complicated online registration system, which especially confused the elderly, for its own vaccination centers.

The most recurrent theme on community social networks, such as the NextDoor website, is precisely how to get a date.

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