Over 20,000 Vaccinated At MTA Pop-Up Sites

Jen Chung

Published Jun 18, 2021

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A sign saying there are free vaccines at Grand Central Terminal

MTA Photos

Jen Chung

Published Jun 18, 2021

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The MTA's vaccination sites at Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station have been so popular that they will remain open through June 26th.

Further, 20,447 vaccinations have been dispensed at all of the MTA's sites so far. On May 12, pop-up sites across NYC Transit, Metro-North, and Long Island Rail Road locations were opened until May 16th, but the high demand at Grand Central and Penn Station led the MTA to extend them.

According to the agency, more than 10,000 vaccinations were given during the first two weeks of the program, and since then, Grand Central and Penn Station have administered another 10,000. Each site can vaccinate up to 300 people per day.

The sites offer the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine—plus either a free 7-day MetroCard or a free round-trip ticket on the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North. The Grand Central site, located in the terminal's Vanderbilt Hall, is open between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.; the Penn Station site, in the 34th Street Corridor, is open from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m.

"Keeping the vaccine easily accessible is vital to New York maintaining a strong vaccination rate," MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye said in a statement. "With New York City’s reopening, and ridership recovering, these pop-up sites at two of the busiest locations in the system remain an effective tool in getting the New York City region fully vaccinated."

For real: Subway ridership just broke 2.5 million riders on Wednesday, June 16th, a new record during the pandemic; it broke 2 million in early April. Before the pandemic, average weekday ridership was around 5.5 million.

New York state recently lifted most COVID-19 restrictions—businesses may decide whether to follow that guidance—now that more than 70% of the adult population has received one dose (it's 65.4% in NYC). However, this translates to only 62.3% of adults New York state residents who have completed their vaccinations and just 51% of New Yorkers of all ages being completely vaccinated.

Bruce Y. Lee, a public health policy professor at CUNY and executive director of Public Health Informatics, told Gothamist earlier this week, "The concern, in general, is you really want to use fully vaccinated as the measure, as opposed to getting a single dose."

If you're not going to be near Grand Central Terminal or Penn Station, you can get information on vaccinations at the city's Vax4NYC site and the state's AmIEligible portal.

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