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After spending a lot of time indoors through the year-long coronavirus pandemic, families in the New York area will soon have one of the first new theme parks in years to visit as restrictions are eased, with LEGOLAND preparing to launch its latest resort.

Located in Goshen, some 60 miles (95 km) north of New York City, LEGOLAND New York is in the final stages of construction, and plans a phased-in opening this summer in order to comply with social distancing guidelines.

"We are the first theme park to be built in the Northeast in decades and really I think particularly with the challenges in the last year, people are looking to get out," said Matt Besterman, public relations manager for LEGOLAND New York. "They're looking to have a safe and fun place to play."

Besterman said the company hopes to make the theme park cashless and contactless in order for everyone to feel safe.

As coronavirus cases have dropped alongside the vaccine rollout, restrictions on businesses are being lifted, with New York City set to be "back fully" on July 1, its mayor said on Thursday.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Block by block, LEGOLAND New York prepares to open

As well as rides, LEGO models are a feature of the parks, and the New York one will feature some 15,000 models.

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