Gov. Cuomo Urges New Yorkers To Get COVID Vaccine: 'We'll Make It Accessible, But We Need You To Accept It'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo spent Saturday morning in Brooklyn, urging New York residents to trust vaccine science and get the shots as soon as they become available to them.
Traveling into Manhattan from Great Neck for the first time since March was Carolyn Jacobson.
A last-minute cancelation allowed her to get a COVID vaccination at Javits Center, jumping ahead of schedule for what she calls an early birthday present.
"I'm turning 91 next month, so I can now have a birthday with my daughters," Jacobson told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
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The governor was at a pop-up vaccination site at the New York City Housing Authority's William Reid Senior Apartments in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
"Please, take the vaccine. We'll make it accessible, but we need you to accept it," Cuomo said.
He made a point of urging Black New Yorkers to get vaccinated.
Polls show Black Americans are among the most reluctant to get the vaccine despite higher COVID-19 death rates than white Americans.
WATCH: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Provides Updates On COVID-19 --
At the Reid Apartments, CBS2 found Rina Pimentel escorting her mother, Rita, inside for a shot. She has a message for all of her neighbors.
"To come to do it, support it," she said.
"The World Health Organization named vaccine hesitancy one of the top 10 threats to global health ... We have to get vaccinated," Rep. Yvette Clarke said.
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The Manhattan-based nonprofit health group SOMOS set up the Crown Heights site and will help as the state does the same at 33 NYCHA senior communities and 300 churches. It is part of a push for vaccine distribution equity.
But all this happens as a scramble ramps up for more supply.
"We are now starting to get some of the week six allocation and that's what we are using today," Cuomo said.
The governor said the state is getting 240,000 vaccines in the next week, but that is not nearly enough and those doses are all spoken for.
The state has also launched a vaccine dashboard that will provide daily updates on the number of first and second dose vaccinations distributed and administered across New York. The dashboard can be found at ny.gov/vaccinetracker.
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