Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t seem to have a plan for how to get hesitant New Yorkers vaccinated against COVID-19, while Mayor Bill de Blasio has moved to make it easier for Empire State residents to get jabbed by opening up all city-run immunization sites for walk-in appointments.
“It was inevitable that you are going to hit a period, a point of hesitancy,” Cuomo said during a virtual press briefing Friday when asked by a reporter whether he’s “concerned” about vaccine hesitancy and what he will do to provide “incentives” for New Yorkers to get inoculated.
“The first wave was people who are willing to take the vaccine,” Cuomo explained while speaking at the headquarters of a nonprofit in Manhattan. “You will then hit a point where that population is no longer coming in, and you’re just dealing with the hesitant population — we are not there yet.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo recognized that walk-up vaccine sites would make it easier for New Yorkers to get the shot. EPAThe governor continued, “We’re still booking appointments. We’re still, we have weeks of appointments that are still being booked.”
Cuomo acknowledged that having walk-up coronavirus vaccine sites “makes it easier” for people to get the shot, yet as of Friday only those 60 and older were allowed to walk in to any state-run inoculation site and get vaccinated.
“If somebody doesn’t want to take a vaccine, I don’t know that offering them an incentive is really going to work. I think you can take away disincentives,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said that once the state comes down to the “core population” of people who are just “hesitant” to get the vaccine, then it can “identify what their problem is and let’s see if we can address it.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio is allowing all New Yorkers to walk-in to NYC vaccine locations to get the shot. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images“I do believe there’s going to be an informational attack, and an informational campaign, but that’s what we’re researching and that’s what we’re looking at,” Cuomo said, insisting, “We’re not at the point yet…where people are not making appointments.”
“They are still making appointments, and we still have more of a [vaccine] supply issue than a demand,” he said.
To date, more than 8.6 million New Yorkers or 43.4 percent of the state’s population have received at least one vaccine dose.
Wayne Jones and D’anna Brown pose for a photo after getting their first vaccine at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn on April 21, 2021. Annie Wermiel/NY PostMeanwhile, de Blasio announced Friday that all New York City-run vaccination sites are now open to all New Yorkers for walk-in appointments after The Post ran a front page calling for the change.
Later Friday, the mayor’s office announced that any New Yorker who gets vaccinated at the new site at the American Museum of Natural History will get a voucher for themselves and three guests to return for a free visit to the museum.






