Spike Lee paid a surprise visit to Yankee Stadium on Friday morning on the opening day of New York’s newest COVID-19 vaccination mega-site.
The director of “Do the Thing Right” – who was there for a shoot, not a vaccine – looked modest, in a gray bomber jacket, khaki and a baseball cap, while talking to people in line to get the first jab.
The Mecca of the Bronx Bomber opened Friday for the first time as mega-vaccination sites after weeks of delays due to a lack of vaccines.
The neighborhood has one of the highest positivity rates for coronavirus. Only Bronx residents will be able to be vaccinated there.
Several hundred people lined up early to receive the first vaccine with two doses of the vaccine.
Officials said they had already dealt blows to several hundred people before midnight at the stadium, where appointments are fully booked for at least the next five days.
On Thursday, there were still thousands of open time for appointments, said City Councilor Mark Levine, as he questioned whether Big Apple had taken enough information to spark interest in the photos.
Two lines ran from Gate 4, with one line for people with meetings and the other for those without.
“I’ve been trying to set up an appointment for the last two months,” said Ralph Davis, a 69-year-old semi-retired sanitation worker at 8:15 a.m., saying he heard about the place on the Michael Kay Show. ”
“I just called, I got the appointment instantly,” he added.
Two restaurant workers, Jennifer Andon, 27, and her father, Ruben, 50, were also waiting in line after signing up for the Somos vaccination site.
“My dad had an appointment at 8:10, he just needs to be more organized, especially at temperatures like these,” Andon said.
“It’s winter, it’s unorganized, but we are more than grateful that we have the vaccine in both directions. I received the notification through the Citizen application. I went literally immediately, I saw the link, I made the appointment “, she said.
“I helped my neighbors and my aunts make their appointments because we are all Bronx residents,” Andon added.
Godwin Vorgbedor, a 58-year-old health worker, waited on the line without an appointment.
“I heard about it on TV two days ago and I tried to record on the computer several times. He still rejects me and says, “I can’t go on, let me in and see,” he said after waiting 45 minutes.
“It does not move. They just tell us to space. I’m ready to pay the price for it, just to make sure I get it, “Vorgbedor added.
Dr. Ramon Tallaj, founder of SOMOS Community Care, a network of nearly 2,500 providers in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, said “almost every meeting” by next week is complete.
“You could see that, it’s raining, look at people. I’m right here. They do not want to go anywhere, but to receive the vaccine “, said Tallaj.
A City Hall spokeswoman said Thursday that an awareness-raising effort is underway in the Bronx to spread the word and facilitate registration.
The city has previously come under fire for a complicated online registration process for its own vaccination centers that have confused the elderly and acknowledged that it needs to do more to encourage minority communities to shoot.