More people
in Westchester will have access to the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to a new
mass vaccination site that opened today.
The National Guard Armory in Yonkers has officially become
the second state-run mass vaccination site in Westchester County - the other
being the Westchester County Center.
As of today, people in any Westchester County ZIP code can make an appointment for the Yonkers site.
Last week,
appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine at
the Armory, located at 2 Quincy Place, were only open to people
living in certain ZIP codes in Yonkers and Mount Vernon. Health officials were giving people who
may live in underserved communities that saw high numbers of the virus a bit
of a head start to getting appointments. "Once I heard the Armory opened up and it was available to my ZIP code, I had to get on it as soon as possible," says Josh Guzman, of Yonkers. "When that opened up that morning...click, click, click, I was right on it," says Mike Patterson, of Mount Vernon.
But it's important to note only people who live in Westchester County will be able to make an appointment at the Yonkers site, meaning if you live in Rockland or Putnam County for example, you are not eligible. The County Center, however, does take people from any county.
You can make those
appointments by going online at NY.GOV/VACCINE or calling the hotline at (833)
697-4829.
News 12 is told the facility
will have the capacity to administer 1,000 doses per day at the Armory,
depending on the availability of the vaccine.
If you are someone who has
had problems setting up an appointment for yourself, you can go to the Armory and
someone will sit down with you and take you through the process of making an appointment.
However, it doesn't mean you'll get your shot the same day, but
you'll at least be set up to get the vaccine. People like Tom Evans, who doesn't own a computer so he
didn't have the ability to go online to make an appointment. He came today, and now he says "I'm good to go. I just have
to come back Tuesday and then I'm good."