2 LI churches to open as pop-up vaccination sites Tuesday

Two Long Island churches are set to become pop-up vaccination sites

News 12 Staff

Jan 25, 2021, 11:17 AM

Updated 1,185 days ago

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Two Long Island churches are set to become pop-up vaccination sites this week.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the new locations are part of an effort to ensure the vaccine is available and accessible in Black, brown and poor communities.
St. Hugh of Lincoln Church in Huntington Station and Memorial Presbyterian Church in Roosevelt are expected to open Tuesday at 2 p.m. in partnership with Northwell Health.
St. Hugh of Lincoln Church's 250 appointments have already filled up for Tuesday. At Memorial Presbyterian, there were still some appointments Sunday evening.
The governor says the effort is underway because communities of color were hit especially hard by the pandemic due to a lack of services, and he doesn't want the same thing to happen when it comes to vaccination.
Tracey Edwards, the Long Island regional director of the NAACP, says there is also a general mistrust of the vaccine in the Black community.
To build some of that trust, the pop-up sites are located at churches where clergy leaders select.
Officials say using churches as testing sites in the spring was successful.
Appointments at church-based sites are scheduled independently by each individual church.
Pop-up locations will also be established at public housing complexes, as well as 300 churches statewide.


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