Rumors on social media about COVID-19 vaccines that will soon expire at the Brooklyn Army Terminal have sparked a frenzy of people rushing to the scene in hopes of getting a blow Thursday night – before the city appears with a dose of reality.
The images and messages shared on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp claimed that the Sunset Park vaccination site had “410+ doses” that were available to “anyone in the community over the age of 18”.
The subsequent rush led City Hall to send workers there to disperse the crowd, said a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“There is no vaccine available for people without programming. This was misinformation and the notification did not come from the governor of New York “, said the press secretary Bill Neidhardt posted on Twitter.
“We’re sending people to the Brooklyn Army terminal to ask people in line to come home if they don’t have an appointment.”
When several people on the site answered that one line he had was arranged for walk-ins, Neidhart admitted “Occasionally there are vials with an extra dose or someone doesn’t show up for the meeting, so the sites are ready to form lines if that happens.”
Scenes of the scene posted on Twitter around 17:30 shows a long line of people queuing on the sidewalks and police officers walking in the middle of cars filling the streets.
Shortly after 6 p.m., The Post found the bumper traffic for eight blocks in both directions of the terminal and hundreds of people lining Second Avenue.
Alexandra Frankel, 27, said she was there “from 4:37 pm … and someone dealing with the site came in and said it was very reasonable to shoot ”.
At one point, Frankel said, several police officers appeared and “said everyone had to leave.”
Frankel said he got stuck and a guard let 10 people, including her, through a gate – only for the police to push them all.
“It’s frustrating because I’ve been waiting two hours online and I don’t even know now if this is legitimate,” she said.
Brooklyn writer Jessica Valenti also wrote on Twitter around 5:10 p.m. that she was “online with about 500 people lol.”
“As expected, they were finished, but it was worth a try!” she added about 25 minutes later.
Currently, only those aged 65 and over, health care workers, teachers, police officers and other front-line workers are eligible to be shot in New York State.