New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Tuesday announced that all state mass vaccination sites will allow walk-in appointments for eligible adults beginning April 29.
“We’re going to open up all state mass vaccination sites this Thursday to just walk in vaccinations. You don’t have to call. You don’t have to make an appointment. All New Yorkers 16- plus, just come into a mass vaccination site on Thursday, and you are eligible for a vaccine,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo noted that walk-in appointments, which will be filled on a “first come first serve basis for all,” are reserved for first doses. Second doses, his office said, will be automatically scheduled after initial shots.
The governor also encouraged all vaccine providers, including local health departments that operate local and county sites, to allow walk-in appointments for all eligible New Yorkers, which include all residents ages 16 and older.
The announcement builds on Cuomo’s previous initiative which created five new pop-up vaccination sites that offered walk-in appointments for New York City bodega, grocery store and supermarket workers.
Cuomo said that with the new walk-in policy, all the obstacles and barriers that previously existed for scheduling a vaccine appointment “are removed.”
“Just show up and roll up your sleeve, and the mass vaccination sites have capacity to handle it,” Cuomo said.
“The more New Yorkers who get vaccinated, the faster we will defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild a new and better state and economy for everyone,” Cuomo added in a statement.
On Thursday, Cuomo announced in a statement that 45 percent of all New Yorkers have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. More than 14.7 million doses have been administered across the state overall.
Washington, D.C. rolled out a similar measure on Tuesday. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced that the city will end its pre-registration and vaccination appointment systems in favor of extending walk-up vaccinations to all residents beginning on Saturday.
New York has reported more than 2 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, and more than 51,000 deaths, according to The New York Times.