New York City's monkeypox vaccination website crashes as cases continue to rise
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- For the second time in less than a week Tuesday, New York City's website for scheduling monkeypox vaccinations crashed.
The city said the traffic was overwhelming, and it was further proof that demand for the shots remains high.
"We apologize for the problems yesterday," Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said Wednesday morning. "We apologize for the problems of the last week. It shouldn't happen. We take responsibility for it. We're building more stable vaccine appointment infrastructure as we speak, and we'll be announcing developments in the coming days about how New Yorkers can make appointments over a longer period of time."
On Tuesday, the city released 1,250 appointment time slots at its clinics in Chelsea, Harlem and Corona, Queens.
Another 1,250 were being set aside for direct referrals from doctors of high-risk patients.
Monkeypox vaccine clinics are also opening this week in Suffolk County, including ones in Cherry Grove, Fire Island and Fire Island Pines.
Officials say 14,500 more doses of monkeypox vaccine are expected in the city later this week from the federal government.
Outside the city, the state is expecting 5,400 additional doses, with vials to be distributed to Westchester, Saratoga, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
All this comes as the CDC reports 359 confirmed cases of the disease in New York State.
The breakdown includes 336 cases in New York City; 12 in Westchester County; 4 in Suffolk County; 2 in Nassau County, and 1 each in Sullivan, Chemung, Rockland, Erie and St. Lawrence counties.
"New York City now is reporting about 30% of the monkeypox cases nationally, but we're only getting 10% of the vaccine supply," Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said. "So the root of the problem here, there's not enough supply of vaccination. "
To try to book an appointment in the city, visit nyc.gov/health/monkeypox.
If you want updates on the vaccine texted directly to you, you can text "monkeypox" to 692692.
In Suffolk County, anyone who is considered high risk can make an appointment to get vaccinated through the county's website.
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