Bronx DA calls on Gov. Cuomo to add courthouse workers to vaccine eligibility list

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clarke and others within the criminal justice system are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include courthouse workers in the vaccine eligibility list.

News 12 Staff

Mar 9, 2021, 12:46 PM

Updated 1,367 days ago

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Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clarke and others within the criminal justice system are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include courthouse workers in the vaccine eligibility list.
Clarke says the Bronx Criminal Courthouse is just a walk away from Yankee Stadium, which is a 24-hour mass vaccination site. She says this would make getting vaccinations easy for those that work there.
The district attorney says courthouse workers deserve protection because they risk their health every day by coming into work.
They say they need the vaccine because they deal with the public every day in the Bronx, which is the borough with the highest number of COVID cases.
Jury trials are set to resume in two weeks, and they say they prefer in-person court operations because victims and defendants haven't been able to have their day in court.
The request comes as Cuomo announced that more mass vaccination sites and pop-up sites are coming to the borough due to an increased supply of vaccines.
He is calling on houses of worship to partner with New York to establish more pop-up vaccine sites. He says they have been an important partner in getting vaccines to underserved communities.
Pop-up sites have helped to distribute more than 40,000 doses of the vaccine.
More than 120 community-based vaccination sites have been running in housing developments, churches and community centers.
The push for more pop-up sites comes as data is consistently showing a lower percentage of people in the Black community getting the vaccine.
A total of 18% of those vaccinated across the five boroughs are Black, but they make up for 26% of the population.