Coronavirus Update New York City: Mount Sinai cancels some vaccine appointments as supply runs low

Coronavirus update for NYC

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Friday, January 15, 2021

Mount Sinai cancels some vaccine appointments as supply runs dry

Jim Dolan reports a thin supply of COVID vaccines led to Mount Sinai canceling some public vaccination appointments.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Vaccine supply is stretching thin across several hospitals in New York City, causing some to cancel or stop scheduling new appointments.

Mount Sinai Hospital said it canceled public vaccination appointments from Friday, January 15, through Tuesday, January 19, due to supply shortages.

A spokesperson with Mount Sinai said the hospital will inform patients when more supplies become available and reopen vaccination appointments for eligible patients.

For those who have appointments scheduled after Tuesday, Mount Sinai said it will provide updates as it knows more.

NYU Langone is no longer scheduling new appointments due to their supply constraints.

Supply is "running very low" and though they are not canceling appointments, they will not return to booking new appointments until they can guarantee they have the shots in hand, an NYUL spokesperson told ABC.

They emphasize they have the capacity to administer more, they just need the doses to do it.

"It's just really low -- we want to get shots in arms, we just need the supplies," the spokesperson said.

They have not been able to confirm when the next shipment is going to be.

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At Northwell, supply is tight. They are not currently canceling appointments.

The way their system is set up, they do not book appointments for doses they don't have, a Northwell spokesperson said. But the supply they are currently operating with is "limited," and moreover varies site by site and appointments are booking quickly.

"The number of vaccination PODs and our capacity to book appointments will remain dependent on the vaccine supply and, because the number of those doses is still limited, we encourage everyone interested in getting the vaccine to stay patient," the spokesperson said.

NewYork-Presbyterian is not canceling appointments and released the following statement:

"On our first day at The Armory, we vaccinated more than 750 people. We are continuing to make new appointments, with more than 3,300 scheduled through this weekend. We want to get as many New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly as possible.

The New York health department said the issue stems from the federal government expanding groups without expanding supply.

"We now have 7 million New Yorkers eligible for a vaccine and the Feds are only providing 300k per week. New York needs more vaccines from the federal government. The challenge is we can only vaccinate as fast as the federal supply allows. We ask for patience as we implement the largest single vaccination effort in state history."

To add to the problem, the general counsel for the Office of Information Technology Services said an unauthorized scheduling link was published this week.

The governor's office said it was a legitimate, internal link that was erroneously shared to the public, put out on social media -- so people who had this link "had unfair advantage that others didn't."

"It has come to our attention that an unpublished scheduling link was shared without authorization on social media this week, allowing some New Yorkers to make vaccine appointments for state-operated sites that are not currently open and were not taking appointments at Binghamton, Buffalo, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Stony Brook and Utica. Out of an abundance of caution we referred this issue to the Inspector General. As this pandemic has shown, equity and equal access are critical in distributing the vaccine, and to ensure these principles are followed all unauthorized appointments have been voided - we are currently contacting everyone who used the unauthorized link to inform them of the situation. We will continue to safeguard all New Yorkers' information and ensure equal access to the vaccine for everyone eligible. As a reminder, the only way to sign up for vaccinations at State-operated locations is through the Department of Health's Am I Eligible website."

Those who had made appointments with this link are being informed. No one who signed up for these vaccines received one -- these are for sites that were not been stood up yet, an official said.