The city has unfairly see-sawed on a walk-in vaccination site slated for senior citizens in the west Bronx, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz says.
Recently, New York City announced that those aged 75 and older would be eligible for walk-in COVID-19 shots without an appointment at the Bronx High School of Science – a plan which has now been scrapped as the school’s currently active vaccination hub is shuttering without a replacement site named, according to the assemblyman.
“I am outraged and disgusted that the City could take such a great idea and ruin it within such a short time frame…The City needs to step up and fix this disaster so that seniors in the northwest Bronx can make their plans to get vaccinated,” Dinowitz said.
He continued, saying that the site’s closure was not unexpected as the city’s department of education is prepping to reopen its facilities to in person learning; Dinowitz also said many of his office’s inquiries regarding the future of the school’s site went unanswered by NYC in March after the Mayor’s office shut down a fellow hub at Walton High School.
“The most disappointing element to this ordeal is that we all saw it coming. The only people who seem to have been caught off-guard are the people in charge of making these decisions,” Dinowitz said.
There is a new site slated to open at Lehman College under the operation of SOMOS, though Dinowitz’s office stated, “details are scant and it is unclear if that location will offer the same weekend walk-up vaccination options.”
The outraged assemblyman penned a letter to the city last Monday, harshly criticizing that the zip codes of 10464 and 10471 do not have a dedicated mass-vaccination site after his office suggested locations such as: Manhattan College, The College of Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale Y, Riverdale Neighborhood House, and Riverdale Temple.
“We need timely communication, empathetic policies that reflect the demographics we are trying to help, and basic common sense to be used when making decisions,” Dinowitz said.
