NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city has just 92,000 first doses left and will hit zero by Friday; without federal support, the mayor said the city will have to start closing vaccine sites Thursday – NBC New York
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 19, 2021
@NYCMayor announces at the rate NYC is headed there will be ZERO vaccines left by end of the week with no resupply. pic.twitter.com/vJ1n6poykO
— 5TownsCentral (@5TownsCentral) January 19, 2021
Governor Cuomo yesterday expressed his frustration for the lack of supply & even suggested the idea of purchasing vaccines directly from Pfizer:
I'm demanding @HHSGov Secretary Alex Azar explain his false claim that reserve vaccine doses would be shipped to states—when in fact the fed gov had ALREADY distributed all of those doses and will not be increasing the supply. pic.twitter.com/71uIx2FOq6
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 18, 2021
We have asked @Pfizer if we can work out a way to purchase vaccine doses directly.
We will look at every opportunity to speed up the vaccination process.#VaccinateNY pic.twitter.com/lfB6SIr6bO
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 18, 2021
Executive Curran as well urged the increase in vaccines locally:
We must increase the scale of federal vaccine shipments so we can pick up the pace.
Nassau County has the infrastructure in place to administer the vaccine in greater numbers, and we're investing in the outreach necessary.
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) January 18, 2021
Until we reach community immunity, I urge residents to stay vigilant by continuing to wear masks, avoiding unsafe gatherings and maintaining social distance.
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) January 18, 2021
Laura Curran did not seem concerned regarding those who already received the 1st dose that they will have ample supply for that second dose:
Nassau County will be contacting all residents who received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose at a Department of Health site with info on their second dose approximately one week before the scheduled appointment. Please be on alert for a phone call or email from the County.
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) January 14, 2021
3 Full months of appointments needed to be canceled due to the lack of vaccines:
A local hospital received this email today from @NYCHealthCommr. They had to cancel three months of appointments, because they don’t know when the next doses will arrive.
We need immediate action from @SenSchumer to bring additional doses of the lifesaving vaccine to NY. pic.twitter.com/IwX8pPzdNU
— Councilman Deutsch (@ChaimDeutsch) January 19, 2021
Dr. Dave Chokshi, Commissioner of Health, sent the following email to an NYC Hospital explaining how they needed to cancel 3 months of appointments:
Thank you for being part of the city’s historic vaccination campaign by signing up for the COVID-19 vaccine program. At this time, supplies of COVID-19 vaccine are very limited and New York City has not received enough vaccine from the federal government for widespread distribution. If you have enrolled and have not received the vaccine, please note that as New York City is allocated more vaccines, we will continue to expand distribution. Similarly, because of the limited vaccine supply, we will send additional vaccines to facilities that may have already been allocated vaccines, as supply permits. Although we are not able to supply all providers at this time, in the interim, you can assist your patients by sending them to an existing clinic or pharmacy – helping them to make an appointment as necessary – or arranging a referral to a healthcare network that has the vaccine. The City and State are actively advocating to the federal government to receive more vaccines, but we do not expect vaccines to be widely available until mid-2021. Please check the New York City Health Department website at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid 19-providers-vaccines.page for updates.
