Coronavirus Update New York City: Vaccine supply dwindling in NYC as 3 new sites open

Coronavirus update for NYC

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Despite vaccine shortage in NYC, 3 new NYCHA sites open

The state will only receive 250,000 doses of the vaccine, down from 300,000 in past weeks, and that's with more people becoming eligible.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The push to try to get more people vaccinated in New York continues.

Three new locations opened up Saturday in New York City at NYCHA buildings to try to get the shots to people hit the hardest by the coronavirus.

Clinics were set to open at the Van Dyke I & II Houses in Brooklyn, Cassidy Lafayette Houses in Staten Island and Polo Grounds Towers in Manhattan.

Members of the NYPD's Medical Division vaccinated hundreds of residents at the Polo Grounds Towers in Harlem.

More than 500 residents age 65 and older were expected to receive the Moderna vaccine.

The department has doctors, nurses and paramedics on staff that it was able to lend to the City's effort to vaccinate its older and disproportionately affected populations.

In all 12 vaccination hubs opened in the city Saturday, bringing the citywide total to 15.

However, that's just one problem facing the state.

New York will only receive 250,000 doses of the vaccine, down from 300,000 in past weeks, and that's with more people becoming eligible.

The Brooklyn Army Terminal, one of the city's 24-hour vaccination sites, opened Sunday but closed Friday due to a shortage. It remained closed Saturday, due to the lack of supply.

"Brooklyn Army Terminal is temporarily closed today. It was closed yesterday as well. We are hoping to reopen as soon as possible," a city spokesperson said. "We stand ready with the infrastructure to vaccinate the people of our city, but we urgently need a resupply of doses from the federal government for this to actually happen."

The shortage created a lot of confusion Friday. The Brooklyn Army Terminal and another site in the Bronx are 24-hour vaccination mega sites, but instead people with appointments were showing up to find a sign that said the sites were closed and referring them to the "My Chart" on the city's vaccination website.

A city official said they called through the list of appointments and offered people new ones.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio is warned the city will run out of the vaccine by next week. The news comes after he pushed so hard to have the vaccine priority groups expanded beyond healthcare workers to include teachers, NYPD, transit workers and seniors over 65.

Again, the city is reminding people that the site is by appointment-only. If you do not have an appointment, you will not be able to get a vaccine.

To add to the confusion, other people showed up after hearing of reports that the city was vaccinating all comers on Thursday night with vaccine that was about to expire. City officials pleaded with people not to show up at the location, but hundreds did -- and went away without a shot.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that New York's health care distribution sites had administered 83% of doses received from the federal government.

However, the state's data shows that New York City is so far lagging far behind other parts of the state.

As of 10 a.m. Saturday, the city had administered just 74% of the first and second doses it had received, the lowest in the state and 10 percentage points behind Mid-Hudson, the next highest region.