A COVID-19 vaccination site is opening at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany on Wednesday.
The Armory is expected to provide 1,000 vaccines per day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Officials say eligible New Yorkers who have registered for appointments at the mass COVID-19 vaccination site in downtown Albany need not worry about parking if they're arriving by car. Although there'll be no parking in front of the Armory or streets immediately surrounding it, Albany Police spokesperson Steve Smith says the department is working with FEMA and the state to ensure people with appointments driving in will be accommodated. Smith says there will be a few handicap spots across the street.
"We're encouraging anyone who has an appointment for a vaccination at the Washington Avenue armory site to park in the New York State OGS lot on Oak Street. So to give people a better idea as to where that is directly behind the armory, on Elm Street, or behind the Albany library, over asking people to access that lot from Spruce Street."
Smith says the lot has several hundred parking spots and is a 5-minute walk from the Armory. CDTA will also be providing a shuttle. He says the lot isn't hard to find if you are coming from outside the city.
" If you're coming from the north, the east or the west, you want to take interstate 787, exit 4B that's the Clinton Avenue exit, the same exit you would get off of, if you were going to, say, the Palace Theatre, get off that exit and continue straight all the way up to Lark Street and take a left on Lark Street, go to Spruce Street and take a left and the lot is right there. On the right hand side. If you're coming from the south, again, you want to take interstate 787 get off Exit 4 it's gonna say downtown Albany, get off of that exit. And you'll see the Clinton Avenue ramp get on the clean Avenue rip and follow those same directions from Clinton Lark to Lark and Spruce. The lot again will be right on your right hand side. This is a large lot, has several hundred spots, it does have some handicap spots in it as well."
Smith says the plan is to make it as easy as possible for people who are coming to the vaccination site to find parking, get vaccinated and get home safely. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy expects a steady stream of people.
"That's 7,000 vaccines getting in people's arms in the first week," McCoy said. "And the great thing is that we started that pre-registered link, because people are having a hard issue, getting appointments, doing the Hunger Games. And I gotta tell you, our overall, when we did this pre-register link, it has blown us away. We had over 29,000 people overall sign up. We have over 20,000 Albany County residents and over 10,000 city of Albany residents, and the good thing is, I'll say to your listeners, is that Washington Armory, Whitney Young and Albany County and a variety of other partners are going to be pulling off that list. And using that list to get people vaccinated."
Adding it's hard to believe 12 months have gone by since the pandemic began, McCoy continues to urge people to wear masks, wash hands frequently and follow social-distancing protocols.
Directions to the Washington Avenue Armory may be downloaded/saved as a printable PDF file.
