Citi Field to open as hub for COVID vaccinations

Citi Field will open as a vaccination hub starting Wednesday, according to Mayor de Blasio.

That use of the Queens ballpark was first announced last month, but the city was facing nationwide vaccine supply shortages at the time.

“This is one we’ve been hoping for for a long time to get up and running,” Hizzoner said at a Monday press conference. “This is going to be great for the people of Queens.”

Appointments will be reserved for taxi and livery drivers and for food service workers, de Blasio said, along with Queens residents. Proof of employment for people in those fields will be required, though he did not provide details.

The shots will be available around the clock Wednesday through Saturday, with the goal of expanding service to seven days per week down the road.

The city opened a vaccination site at Yankee Stadium last week, part of an effort that has seen 997,884 shots administered in the Big Apple from Dec. 14 to Monday morning, according to the mayor.

The vaccine rollout came at the end of the Trump presidency and got off to a slower-than-expected start. The local rollout has been hampered by confusion over the application process and some bickering between de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo over eligibility requirements.

But the mayor noted the undertaking has been historic.

The nearly 1 million vaccinations cover a population greater than that of Austin, Texas, he said, albeit about a quarter of the doses have gone to people who live outside the city.

“Even with the supply problems, [the] vaccination effort keeps growing,” he said.

De Blasio also announced a program to help performing arts organizations get federal grants.

The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Department of Small Business Services will provide webinars to live-performance venues and other groups on how to apply for Shuttered Venue Operators grants of up to $10 million each.

The pandemic has devastated the arts and entertainment industry, which has shed 60,000 payroll jobs since February 2020, according to the city comptroller’s office.