QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Citi Field will become a 24/7 mega COVID-19 vaccination site during his daily press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
The site will be run inside the stadium, located at 41 Seaver Way, by NYC Health + Hospitals, and will have a capacity to administer 5,000 to 7,000 vaccines a day. It will open in the week of Jan. 25, according to the mayor.
“This is going to be fantastic. This is going to help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio said, praising the Mets for stepping up and helping the people of Queens and New York City as a whole. “We welcome Queens residents. We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”
De Blasio said there is still work to do, but it will be a “game-changer.”
New Mets owner Steve Cohen joined de Blasio for Tuesday’s announcement.
“When we heard about your initiative, we were just so excited to participate in this program,” Cohen said. “It’s so important. We know the suffering that’s going on with COVID. Anyway the organization could help support this effort, we were going to do it. We talked about being involved in our communities and I can’t think of any way that’s more important than what this hub is going to do.
Cohen described Citi Field as the “intersection of Queens,” that can be reached by subways, trains and highways.
“The goal is to just get the vaccine in people’s arms so we can get this crisis over with and get back to living a normal life,” Cohen added.
The new Mets regime isn’t messing around.
After weeks of feeding the fan base appetizers, the organization served a main course Thursday, completing one of the splashiest trades in franchise history.
The result was Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco headed to Queens in a blockbuster deal that sent Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf to Cleveland. The trade — the first “wow” moment of new owner Steve Cohen’s tenure — bolsters the Mets’ lineup and rotation, turning the team into an instant NL East contender.
The 27-year-old Lindor, who can become a free agent after this season, rates among the game’s premier shortstops. The Indians have been shopping Lindor the last two winters in an attempt to shed payroll. He is expected to receive around $20 million this season in his final year of arbitration eligibility.
