New Yorkers Get COVID-19 Vaccine Under Museum of Natural History's Iconic Sculpture

New Yorkers Get COVID-19 Vaccine Under Museum of Natural History's Iconic Sculpture

The COVID-19 pandemic affected every sphere of human society and practically stopped our lives for the better part of a year. Museums and art galleries were some of the most hit as businesses went remote and public spaces closed up. Now that society is opening up back to normal with the successful roll-out of vaccines, New York authorities have found a crafty way to stick it to the virus that’s crippled the art institution since last year.  

Yesterday, the United States’ COVID-19 vaccination roll-out schedule entered the phase where all adults are now eligible to receive the vaccine. To make this even more exciting and encourage more New Yorkers to be a part of #TeamVaccinated, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that they can now get their vaccine under the famous blue whale sculpture suspended from the ceiling of the Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History.

Included in this sensational package for would-be participants who will sign up to get vaccinated at the museum is a complimentary general admission voucher for up to four guests to access the museum.

“I would say it’s a whale of an announcement or perhaps we are whale-coming this new site,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference announcing the news. “Literally, you can get vaccinated directly below the blue whale.”

“This is an exciting new effort and I guarantee you that a lot of people are going to say ‘that’s where I want to get vaccinated,'” De Blasio said. “If previously you didn’t get vaccinated because it was hard to get an appointment, now it is easy to get an appointment… If you hesitated, now is the time to go out and get vaccinated.” 

The museum which will be one of over 600 vaccination sites across New York, is joining a number of museums around the world that have been converted to vaccination centers to combat the deadly coronavirus and get people vaccinated en masse. The Smithsonian Institution recently acquired the empty vial of the first vaccine administered in the US and other related objects for the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

“In years to come… we will look at images of New Yorkers getting vaccinated under the whale and it will be a snapshot of New York and New Yorkers fighting back, caring for themselves, caring for one another, and of the time when things started to turn for the better,” museum president Ellen Futter said via Zoom at the press conference.

“This effort is absolutely critical to the health and welfare of our fellow New Yorkers,” Futter added. “This institution is dedicated to fostering scientific knowledge and understanding, and providing access to the public, so I can’t even imagine a more important manifestation of our mission in action.”

The iconic American Museum of Natural History’s blue whale is a 94-foot-long model created in the mid-1960s and renovated for anatomical accuracy between 2001 and 2003. The life-size model of the aquatic giant is made from foam and fiberglass and weighs 21,000 pounds. It is cleaned annually in a three-day-long bathing ritual conducted via an electric lift and industrial vacuum cleaner.

The massive sculpture currently sports a band-aid above its flipper, a feature which made New York Mayor joke that he wants to see the “really, really, really big syringe you guys used to vaccinate the whale.”

The museum will start accepting appointments today for vaccination dates beginning from Friday, April 23. And while the lower level of the hall will be closed to museum visitors as vaccinations are being distributed, visitors will still be able to see the whale from the mezzanine.

Although the site will be open to all eligible New Yorkers, some appointments will be reserved for New York City Housing Authority residents and staff, and workers at many of the city’s cultural institutions.

Noting the importance of museums and other cultural sites in the city’s ongoing recovery from the pandemic. “When the arts come back, New York City comes back.”

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