New Yorkers More Willing to Take Vaccine, Mayor Increases Efforts to Fight Disinformation

By Yehudit Garmaise

   More than 4 million residents of New York City have been vaccinated, and those who have not yet gotten their shots are increasingly less hesitant to get them, Mayor Bill de Blasio said this morning at his press conference. 

  “I’ll tell you the good news,” the mayor told BoroPark24 this morning. “We are seeing the tide turning.

   “All of the public polling is showing it, but so is our experience on the ground. More and more people are coming forward, and there is less and less hesitancy.

    “We need to just patiently keep explaining, answering questions, and showing how much faith there is, including from trusted people in each community.”

  Mayor de Blasio often visits vaccine centers throughout the city, and when he does, he explained that he asks New Yorkers, “Before you signed up to get your shot, did you feel some hesitancy? Were you worried?”

    “A lot of people start out by saying, “At first I was,” Mayor de Blasio said. “They say, ‘I wanted to see how it went for awhile. I wanted to see that other people whom I know had gotten it.’

  “But the momentum now is shifting, more and more people getting vaccinated, and more and more people are getting comfortable."

  In an effort to fight the misinformation that the vaccine was rushed, causes fertility problems, or is otherwise dangerous, the mayor said he would like to better “emphasize social media and community and ethnic media.”

   Other efforts to increase New Yorkers’ comfort with the vaccine include the possiblility of more religious leaders publicly taking and expressing their confidence in the vaccine.

   In addition, the mayor said, “this week and in the next few weeks, more and more vaccine centers will be created in many different types of houses of worship, so that New Yorkers can get vaccinated in their own neighborhoods in places where they feel most safe and comfortable.

Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office