BLAS STARTS JAB TURF WAR
The big state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites in New York City are administering shots to massive numbers of out-of-towners — rather than Big Apple residents, Mayor de Blasio charged Monday.
The mayor complained that a whopping 75 percent of the coronavirus shots administered at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens were given to people who live outside the city. More than 42 percent of the shots the state has administered at the Javits Center in Manhattan have also gone to noncity residents.
“The big sites don’t help us improve equity,” the mayor said. “These sites do not perform like we’d like to see.’’
He and other public officials, including Gov. Cuomo and leaders in low-income communities, have complained for months about the racial disparity between those who are being vaccinated and those who aren’t.
The pols have vowed to address the issue with more grassroots education outreach and with vaccination sites in minority neighborhoods.
De Blasio said that while he wants “to see everyone vaccinated,” it doesn’t make sense that a large number of people getting shots at state-run city sites are not locals.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said the inequity issue “is why it’s so important . . . that we get our fair share of the allocation so that we can keep it, and most importantly, get as many New York City residents vaccinated as possible.”
But the Cuomo administration later hit back — pointing out that many people who work in the Big Apple live in the suburbs.
“Once again, the Mayor’s argument doesn’t make sense — these sites are vaccinating thousands of New Yorkers per day, including essential workers who might live outside the five boroughs but serve New York City,” Cuomo aide Jack Sterne said in an e-mailed response to The Post.
“We are unsure why Mayor de Blasio is against vaccinating teachers who educate New York City children; firefighters, EMTs, nurses, police officers, and doctors who protect New York City residents; and transit workers who keep our subways and buses moving, just because they live in a different county.
“We’ve made equity a core focus of vaccine distribution, standing up over 100 pop-up clinics statewide that have vaccinated more than 40,000 New Yorkers in hard-hit communities of color and launching borough-specific mass vaccination sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, which have thousands of open appointments,” Sterne wrote. “Our focus is on getting shots into arms as fast as possible, and we won’t let the Mayor’s petty politics distract from that goal.”