BROOKLYN — New Yorkers rushed to the Brooklyn Army Terminal on Thursday evening after a false rumor circulated on social media and WhatsApp about a surplus of coronavirus vaccine doses.
Doses were only available for people with appointments, mayoral spokesman Bill Neidhardt said. The city sent people to Brooklyn Army Terminal to ask people without appointments to leave.
“There is NOT available vaccine for people without appointments,” he tweeted. “This was misinformation and the notification did not come from the NYC gov. We are sending people to Brooklyn Army Terminal to ask people in line to return home if they don’t have appointments.”
Video showed a long line and many waiting in cars.
After word started to spread of 400+ surplus vaccine shots in Brooklyn—passed on by WhatsApp messages and screenshots—this is what *part* of the scene looks like right now pic.twitter.com/cndF7r5zzc
— Stephen Lurie (@luriethereal) January 14, 2021
The social media post said there were more than 410 doses that needed to be given out in the next few hours. Councilman Justin Brannan expressed frustration over the post.
“You may have seen this bogus image As a result there is now a line of people outside the Brooklyn Army Terminal who are not going to get vaccinated,” he tweeted. “I know we’re all desperate to get vaccinated but sharing stuff like this does more harm than good & creates confusion.”