FEMA to open 4 community vaccine sites in New York

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A FEMA-supported drive-thru community vaccination center in Los Angeles. (FEMA Photo)

NEW YORK - The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be setting up four COVID-19 vaccination sites in New York state to help boost vaccinations in traditionally underserved communities, the governor's office announced Wednesday.

The community-based vaccination sites will be located in Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, and Yonkers. The goal is for the sites to be up and running by the first week of March to serve about 1,000 people a day from the immediate communities.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said health officials chose the locations in partnership with FEMA and the CDC to improve vaccine access in socially vulnerable communities.

"These four additional federally funded community vaccination sites across the Empire State are part of federal, state and local governmental efforts to address and prevent COVID-19 health inequities and ensure an equitable response to the pandemic," Acting FEMA Region 2 Administrator David Maurstad said in a statement. "Vulnerable and under-served populations having access to vaccines is part of our commitment to ensuring every person who wants a vaccine can get one."

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Appointments at these sites initially will be reserved for residents of the surrounding communities, officials said.

These are the site locations:

• Delavan Grider Community Center, 877 E. Delavan Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215 (Erie County)
• Former Kodak Hawkeye parking lot at Ave. E, 1345 St. Paul St., Rochester, NY 14621 (Monroe County)
• Washington Avenue Armory, 195 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210 (Albany County)
• New York National Guard Armory, 2 Quincy Pl., Yonkers, NY 10701 (Westchester County)