NYC Vaccinates More than 1 Million, Much More Supply is Needed

By Yehudit Garmaise

   On Dec. 31, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio stated his goal to accelerate New York’s vaccination process and inoculate 1 million of the 8.4 people living in New York City by the end of January, and today, just nine days into February, the mayor hit his goal.

  Although the mayor is enthusiastic about the city’s vaccination process, he continues to rue that the city needs “a heck of a lot more supply because right now, so many people want and need vaccinations, and we would be doing that for them if we would just get the supply we need.”

    While the mayor today blamed drug manufacturers for the shortage of vaccines, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has many times blamed the administration of former President Donald Trump for failing to order enough vaccines for the country. 

  “We have to keep in mind that right now, we have 10 million people [eligible for inoculations] chasing 300,000 vaccines,” Gov. Cuomo said yesterday.

   Although the governor acknowledges the state’s supply problem, he also expanded the category of adult New Yorkers who will be eligible to get vaccinated on Feb. 14.

   The governor added yesterday that he would leave the decision to local governments to determine when to start scheduling appointments for people with “co-morbidities,” or multiple diseases or conditions simultaneously.

   “It is very important to reach everyone who needs [the vaccine],” Mayor de Blasio said. “There are so people who have pre-existing conditions, who are just scared to death right now.”

   Although the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York Department of Health do not recommend doing so, the mayor been advocating for weeks that the city be granted permission to use its supply of vaccine second doses to provide other New Yorkers with first doses.

   “Even a first vaccination is going to mean so much to them,” the mayor argued today. “We need the freedom to vaccinate: that means the federal government, the state government giving us the ability to use second doses as first doses, so we can reach a lot more people."

 (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)