State targets zip codes with low vaccination rates like Spring Valley and Monsey

State officials say more people need to get vaccinated in order for New York to fully reopen.

News 12 Staff

Jun 8, 2021, 10:36 AM

Updated 1,222 days ago

Share:

State officials say more people need to get vaccinated in order for New York to fully reopen.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he's ready to lift just about all COVID restrictions on capacity, social distancing and contact tracing once 70% of adult New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 
State health officials say the number is currently about 68%, so there's just a little way to go to reach that goal.
The state says at least 100 zip codes have vaccination rates below 36.3%.
That includes 10952 in Monsey, which is at 17.6% - the lowest in the state. There is also 10977 in Spring Valley at 28.6%.
The plan is to devote more resources to those zips codes and have pop up sites in areas with the lowest vaccination rate to get the numbers up. The Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center in Spring Valley is one of 11 spots around the state as a pop up vaccination site this weekend.
While the state would fully reopen at 70%, some things would remain in place such as rules for hospitals, nursing homes, and public transit.
The pop up vaccination site in Spring Valley will open up this Saturday. It is the only one the Hudson Valley.
"It's a welcome step when the government tries to make sure neighborhoods have resources," says Yossi Gestetner, from the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council.
Gestetner says he questions whether the data is right because the city has its own vaccine data by zip code.
He pointed to Borough Park, Brooklyn, which has a high Orthodox population as an example of why he doesn't understand the numbers.
He says the state's data appears in line with city data that includes children ineligible for the vaccine.
When you look at people 18 and over, the number vaccinated is significantly higher.
"You have a huge portion of the population which is still not eligible to get vaccinated," he says.
Anyone older than 12 can now get the Pfizer shot.
Gestetner says he just wants the communities that truly need the state's help to get it.