Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York State will provide a new, separate allocation of 35,000 vaccines to address the college student population at SUNY schools and private colleges. This initial allocation will include 21,000 vaccines to be administered to SUNY students and 14,000 vaccines to be administered at private colleges. The vaccines will be administered to residential and non-commuter students who are leaving for the summer.
The Governor also announced that the new direct vaccine allocation will, in part, be administered to SUNY students at the state-run mass vaccination sites at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood and at SUNY Old Westbury in Old Westbury, both on Long Island. Students can make appointments through their schools. These new allocations will allow New York State to more efficiently vaccinate the college student population in partnership with the state's medical providers.
"We're now focusing on students, and we want to get students vaccinated before the end of the school year. The 18 to 24 population is growing in positivity, and many of them are in colleges and universities. It makes all the sense in the world to use the schools as the base for the vaccine. The State University of New York system will take the lead in being a model for vaccinating students on college campuses," Governor Cuomo said. "The State of New York is announcing that we will be giving direct allocations to colleges and universities so they can vaccinate their students in their facilities and help us stamp out the COVID beast. This is the moment of opportunity and we have COVID on the run, but we have to stay New York tough and New York smart. We focused on older people in the beginning of this process, and they were the priority, but we need herd immunity and we need every New Yorker vaccinated, and that includes New York's young people and students. We're going to make that a reality, and I want to thank SUNY in particular for taking the lead, but I encourage all colleges to participate."
"We're now focusing on students, and we want to get students vaccinated before the end of the school year." Governor Cuomo
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras said, "Vaccinating SUNY students before they leave for summer break is the key to restoring normalcy on our campuses when students return in the fall. Thanks to Governor Cuomo and New York State for securing vaccines specifically for our students—a move that will get us to the finish line faster and more efficiently. Our students have been a shining example throughout the crisis, with weekly mandatory testing, mask policies, and helping on the frontlines—and the result is a low positivity rate on our campuses of 0.32% over the past week. Our students have been crystal clear on this issue: they want to get vaccinated. Between existing state and county-run sites on our campuses, emerging student-specific points-of-distribution, allocated vaccine doses, and a massive public awareness campaign—we will stop at nothing to get students vaccinated and to help end this pandemic."
The state-run mass vaccination sites that will administer a portion of the new allocations are located at the addresses below:
Suffolk CCC - Brentwood
Suffolk Federal Credit Union Arena
1001 Crooked Hill Road
Brentwood, NY
SUNY Old Westbury
Clark Center - Gate C
Store Hill Road and Cherry Road
Old Westbury, NY
On April 6, State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras announced a program specifically designed to begin vaccinating SUNY residential students prior to the end of the spring semester. SUNY will receive a first round of vaccines to inoculate SUNY residential students prior to their departure for summer break. The vaccines will be distributed to 34 SUNY campuses across New York State. SUNY strongly encourages all students to schedule their vaccine appointments before the semester ends, and if possible, to choose points of distribution set aside specifically for college students.