New York opened a mass Covid-19 vaccination site at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan on Wednesday, a key step toward speeding up the rollout of the life-saving doses.
The Javits Center, commissioned as an emergency hospital in the early days of the pandemic, welcomed its first New Yorkers for inoculations.
"It's been a challenging year for all of us – especially the events industry. But we are honored to play a role in vaccinating New Yorkers & defeating this invisible enemy," representatives for the center said in a tweet.
New York state has administered roughly 630,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, out of a total 1.8 million allocated for the state so far, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That amounts to roughly 3,200 vaccine doses per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio previously set a goal of vaccinating 1 million New Yorkers by Feb. 1.