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Seven of the state’s 25 zip codes with the lowest rates of coronavirus vaccinations are located in New York City — and six of them are in Brooklyn, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
Williamsburg has the lowest portion of people inoculated against COVID-19 in the city, with a dismal rate of 32.7 percent, followed by Ocean Hill and Far Rockaway, Queens, at 33.4 percent each, according to a chart Cuomo presented during a news conference in Syracuse.
Canarsie has a 34.3 percent vaccination rate, Crown Heights is at 35.3 and Brownsville and Borough Park are both at 35.8 percent.
Cuomo shamed the communities while announcing that the statewide vaccination rate stood at 69.9 percent, a hair shy of the 70 percent he’s said will lead to the lifting of “virtually all” safety restrictions.
New York has 1,755 zip codes and 10 percent have vaccination rates below 38.8 percent, Cuomo said.
The area with the lowest rate — a mere 17.8 percent — is suburban Monsey, in Rockland County.
“These are the places where we have to target to get that vaccination rate up, and we are going to post this so — while the local governments know this — these are the target areas you want to increase the vaccination rate,” he said.
Cuomo blamed the situation on “more a communication issue and education issue” while also acknowledging that “we have a hesitancy issue.”
“You know, you have 20, 25 percent of the people in this state who just will not take a vaccine, who don’t believe in it, who are afraid of it, who don’t want to take a needle,” he said.
“Remember, we had this issue with the measles vaccine a couple of years ago … and it was a very loud and controversial issue.”
Cuomo urged officials to “go door to door, go to churches, go to social events, go to community events” to encourage people to get the free shots.
A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio responded by saying, “New York City has already vaccinated thousands and thousands of people by going door-to-door.”
“We were one of the first cities to go door-to-door with our homebound vaccination program and we’ve expanded this incredibly successful initiative since then,” spokesman Bill Neidhardt added.
Also Monday, Cuomo said the annual state fair in Syracuse — which he canceled last year due to the pandemic — would be held at full capacity when it opens on Aug. 20.
The fair is scheduled to run through Labor Day.
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