The Associated Press
In this Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, file photo, Sarah Gonzalez of New York, a Nurse Practitioner, gives Claudia Zain, 47, of New York, her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a New York Health and Hospitals vaccine clinic in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The clinic, serving 30 people getting vaccines Sunday, will expand to a twenty-four hour, seven days a week operation starting Monday. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)
The U.S. is entering the second month of the biggest vaccination drive in history with a major expansion of the campaign, opening football stadiums, major league ballparks, fairgrounds and convention centers to inoculate a larger and more diverse pool of people. After a frustratingly slow rollout involving primarily health care workers and nursing home residents, states are moving on to the next phase before the first one is complete, making shots available to such groups as senior citizens, teachers, bus drivers, police officers and firefighters. “It gives you hope,” said David Garvin, a New Yorker who turns 80 next weekend and got a vaccination at a city-run site in Brooklyn on Monday, the first day the state made people over 75 eligible along with various front-line workers. “I’ve been in my room for six months.” In Southern California, 41-year-old nurse Julieann Sparks received a shot through her car window at a drive-thru vaccination site that opened in a parking lot near the San Diego Padres’ baseball stadium. “It really truly was a hassle-free experience,” she said. After receiving a vaccination, drivers had to stay there for 15 minutes so that they could be watched for any reaction.