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- The New York Department of Health alerted New Yorkers of a “very limited” COVID-9 vaccine supply that has backed up appointments by more than 3 months.
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said “there is simply not enough” of the vaccine, telling the federal government it needs more doses.
- Of the 1.87 million doses received, the state of New York has administered 41% of them, according to Bloomberg data.
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The New York Department of Health published an alert on its homepage this week warning New Yorkers of a “very limited” COVID-19 vaccine supply and said people can expect to wait more than 3 months to book an immunization appointment.
“The federal government has only given New York approximately 300,000 vaccines/week for over 7 million people who are eligible,” the alert said. Appointments have filled up quickly, the department said, and eligible New Yorkers “should be prepared to receive an appointment date as far as 14 weeks or further in the future.”
“There is simply not enough,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “And this is the weapon that will win the war.”
The federal government has distributed 1.87 million doses to New York state, according to Bloomberg data. Of those doses, 41% have been used.
Read more: What’s coming next for COVID-19 vaccines? Here’s the latest on 11 leading programs.
New York has expanded its eligibility for people to receive the vaccine, and it is starting to expand the network of locations where patients can get the doses. Hospitals have been tasked with vaccinating healthcare workers. Hundreds of pharmacies are scheduled to begin vaccinating New Yorkers 65 and older this week, and local health departments and union organizations will vaccinate essential workers in phase 1B, which includes first responders, corrections officers, teachers, in-person college instructors, childcare, grocery and transit workers, and people living or working in homeless shelters.
A spokesperson from the health department was not immediately available to comment Friday morning.
The vaccines, one from Moderna and the other from Pfizer and BioNTech, were approved in mid-December. Now each week, companies release doses of the vaccine, and planes and trucks transport the vaccine to states. The federal government's vaccine allocations per state, can be found here.
The Trump administration's vaccine initiative, Operation Warp Speed, set a goal to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of 2020, but missed the goal, with just over 9 million people being vaccinated as of this week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine tracker. Health experts have said the program's goal isn't realistic, as states didn't receive additional funding for vaccine distribution ahead of the rollout. Now, local health officials are tasked with caring for sick patients and coordinating vaccinations.
The nation's death toll from COVID-19 topped 385,000 this week.
