Contrary to the limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses and what they say is a scattered system for getting appointments, some New York residents plan to travel hundreds of miles across the state to get a bullet.
Maura Laverty, a 66-year-old nurse from New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City, said she was preparing for a road trip after catching a meeting in a snow-covered college town near the Canadian border.
She said she spent hours finding a place at locally run facilities near her in Westchester County but was unsuccessful. It then turned into a state-run web portal that allows people to run a New York state resident position at 13 major distribution hubs run by the state government.
Jacob. Her first choice was the K. Javits Convention Center, a state hub in Manhattan, but the only available slots were in place in Potsdam in St. Louis County. Lawrence.
“Study was a future exercise, so I’m going to take a nice little route,” said Ms Laverty, who decided to work remotely from cheap rent. days for a few days while she got the injection.
Maura Laverty, a nurse from New Rochelle, travels about 350 miles to Potsdam for a bullet.
Photo:
Maura Laverty
Other New York residents also said their vaccination meetings were a good excuse for a vacation. But most referred to the recruitment process as worrying and said they were sorry the state had not allocated more doses to more populated areas.
Local officials across the state have also complained that the state was delivering valuable doses of vaccine to their own hubs – where any New Yorker can sign up – instead of sending them to local pharmacies, clinics or county-run sites that serve local residents.
Peter Bartfeld, a 70-year-old lawyer, said he booked a time at a hub in Plattsburgh, which he believes is six hours from his home in Valley Stream on Long Island. He picked the spot after two weeks of failing a closer spot.
“This is unusual,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. Why do people have to drive from Long Island to Plattsburgh? ”
Approximately seven million New Yorkers meet the state’s current eligibility criteria, which include people 65 and older, health care workers, nursing home residents and staff, as well as essential staff including teachers. State officials said they receive about 250,000 doses of vaccine each week.
About 600,000 people have made appointments at state vaccination hubs, Department of Health spokesman Gary Holmes said, and about 75% of them were conducted by New Yorkers from the same department of the state. State officials did not respond to requests for demographic data on who received a meeting or who received the vaccine.
President Biden announced plans to send a supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to states for the next three weeks and purchase additional doses to vaccinate the majority of the U.S. population by the end of the year. summer. Photo: Doug Mills / Getty Images
Long Islanders can use state centers at Jones Beach and SUNY Stony Brook, and New York City residents can use city sites or state hubs at the Javits Center or Aqueduct Racecourse in Queens, all of which can vaccination of at least 1,000 people per day. For almost every week, the same job sites were available in Plattsburgh and Potsdam, which are in rural areas. Officials say both sites can handle 500 jobs per day.
The Gov. Andrew Cuomo and health officials say vaccine doses are distributed around the state based on population, and it is incumbent on some providers to focus on specific groups: hospitals for health care workers, sites on the county-run for essential staff including teachers, and pharmacies for people 65 or older.
Nancy Bendiner, 73, arranged meetings for herself and her husband at a state hub in Utica after a county-run clinic near their home in Red Hook, NY, filled up there. the nine minutes. Their positions are on consecutive days, so they spend the night in Utica, she said.
Linda Puiatti, a 65-year-old painter from Dutchess County, is traveling to Binghamton. “It’s a little sad that we’re doing this in this lottery way. The person closest to the phone will receive the award, ”she said.
Dutchess County painter Linda Puiatti plans to travel about 175 miles to Binghamton for her Covid-19 vaccine.
Photo:
Linda Puiatti
Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s chief supporter, said state officials were ensuring equality between locals and villagers outside the city. Mr Holmes said the state could look to rebalance the allocation if issues persisted.
“Our aim is to get views in arms as quickly and efficiently as possible – if New Yorkers in one area do not plan all available meetings, and that someone is willing to travel to get a bullet, that just shows the inadequate supply of vaccines that we are making. received from the Trump administration, ”he said.
Biden administration officials said last week that they would increase the number of doses given to states, a move that Mr Cuomo welcomed.
Local leaders said their uptake of vaccines fell with the opening of the hubs. Oneida County Chief Anthony Picente, a Republican in whose county includes the state center just outside Utica, said the allocation for a drive-by-the-point driving circle dropped by the county fell from 3,000 doses through The week between January 5 to 500 doses for the week of January 20. The state site opened on January 19.
Mr Holmes would not say how many doses of vaccines are being directed to state hubs but said the county rations were reduced because of the distribution network and the eligible population on which local health departments change.
Debra Blalock, 68, said she was concerned about the state of the roads, but still plans to drive to Potsdam from Dutchess County to get vaccinated. She was embroiled in the virtues of having a meeting in another part of the state, but said she felt comfortable doing so because people living closer had the same ability. registered.
While worried about his trip north, Mr Bartfeld said he learned Thursday that he was able to get a last-minute order to the state hub in Queens. The process was efficient and everyone was enjoyable, he said.
“As soon as you get that job, it’s gold,” he said.
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at [email protected]
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