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Syracuse was left off Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s list of New York cities getting mass COVID-19 vaccination sites, making Syracuse the only major city in upstate New York that’s not receiving a new one. 

Though Syracuse has done well in getting residents vaccinated, an organized effort by way of a mass vaccination site would allow the Syracuse community to return to being the vibrant community that existed before COVID-19.

Cuomo announced Feb. 17 that Rochester, Yonkers, Albany and Buffalo would receive new mass vaccination sites the first week of March to vaccinate 1,000 New Yorkers at each site daily. The effort to distribute vaccine doses equitably has become a priority for state officials. The sites that are outside New York City will focus on underserved communities, the governor’s office stated in a press release. 

Though the lack of a new mass vaccination in Syracuse site is concerning, Onondaga County has continued to show improvements in weekly totals of new cases, hospitalizations, and vaccines administered. So far, 19.6% of Onondaga County residents have received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, outpacing other large counties in the state. This percentage is also comfortably ahead of the state’s, which lies at 14.3%.

A spokesperson for the governor told Syracuse.com that Syracuse was excluded because the county’s vaccination rate is the highest among large counties in New York. The state will also work with the county to add vaccination sites for underserved communities, according to the spokesperson. 

But until this happens, Cuomo is failing to equitably distribute vaccine doses. The many obvious reasons for having a mass vaccination site in Syracuse make it hard to understand why the governor skipped on implementing a mass vaccination site in Syracuse.

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More stories on COVID-19 in Syracuse:

• ‘Deep inequity’: Some at-risk SU employees ineligible for COVID-19 vaccine
• Column: When it comes to COVID-19, SU can only do so much. Students must step up.
• Faculty raise concerns about SU’s COVID-19 response, workload at forum

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The Syracuse community is intertwined with SU. If COVID-19 is spreading on campus, it could spread in the community. 

Most SU students are still ineligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but federal health authorities expect vaccines to be available in April to anyone who wants one. SU students and faculty will still be on campus then, and not having a state-sponsored mass vaccination site in Syracuse could limit the amount of students who are able to get the vaccine. This may lead to the further transmission of COVID-19 and an increase in infections within the SU community. 

Students will go home for the semester in late May, and the likelihood that students will bring COVID-19 home with them could decrease with a mass vaccination site open to students. 

Cuomo needs to also consider the economic benefits that a mass vaccination site would provide for Syracuse. With a vaccinated population, local restaurants would be able to return to normal operation, local commerce would return, and SU students would be able to freely go into the city to shop or go to bars.

Local and state government need to work together to create a mass vaccination site in Syracuse that would administer at least 1,000 vaccinations each day. If SU is going to consistently keep COVID-19 under control on campus heading into April, the community needs a mass vaccination site to ensure that everyone has the ability to get vaccinated as soon as ‘open season’ for vaccine eligibility arrives.

Nathan Fenningdorf is a sophomore political science major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at nlfennin@syr.edu.

Published on February 28, 2021 at 10:58 pm

Contact Nathan: nlfennin@syr.edu