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Mary O’Neill is tired of being stuck in the house. The 82-year-old from Mineola, Long Island, said she looks forward to returning to lunch with her friends or even catching a Broadway show in the coming months. She walked out of the Javits Center beaming Wednesday morning, as one of the first New Yorkers to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the newly opened large-scale vaccination site.
“My kids were more concerned that I was getting COVID than I was,” O’Neill said with a laugh. “My oldest son, he didn’t want me to leave the house. They drive me crazy.
For the second time in 10 months, the state has redeveloped the Javits Center in an effort to meet the pandemic needs of New Yorkers. The cavernous event space doubled as a temporary field hospital from March through May, although it is underutilized.
State officials said they expected to vaccinate 1,000 people at the Javits center during its first day of operation – with the goal of reaching 10,000 people in 12 hours in the coming days. With a more generous supply of vaccines from the federal government, capacity could increase to 25,000 people every 24 hours, said Michael Kopy, the state’s director of emergency management.
Mary O’Neill and her daughter Kerry Tice arrived from Minneola, Long Island, to get the COVID-19 vaccine, as all nearby appointments were booked.
Gwynne Hogan
“The bottom line is we can’t do this without the vaccines,” Kopy said. “We need Washington to send us vaccines so we can vaccinate New Yorkers.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio made similar overtures at a press conference earlier Wednesday, warning that the city could burn off its vaccine supply by next week. In a city council hearing Tuesday, health officials said unpredictable amounts of vaccine arriving from the federal government – 200,000 doses one week and 100,000 the next – made distribution planning even more complicated.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the federal government would stop stockpiling second doses, allowing vaccines to quickly circulate to local governments in the coming days.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New York has used about a third of the 1.7 million doses of its vaccine allowance. New York injected 267,000 doses, which is also a third of its current supply.
“I feel lighter. A burden has eased, ”said Tom Cuff, a West Village resident, 74, after being vaccinated, who added staff on site had already booked him for a booster for next month. “It went very well, very well.”
The Javits Center was nearly empty Wednesday morning. Officials said they expected to vaccinate 1,000 people on opening day. They aim to expand operations to vaccinate 10,000 people every 12 hours in the coming days.
Gwynne Hogan
While people who had received the vaccines described a relatively painless process that took less than 45 minutes, signing up for an appointment itself was a different story. O’Neill was accompanied by her daughter Kerry Tice as they tried to reserve a spot closer to their home but were unable to find one.
“If this is to get her freedom back and keep her safe, that’s what we had to do,” Tice said.
The state urges patience, as the 7 million eligible New Yorkers are far greater than those provided. Starting Tuesday, people over 65, essential workers and those with certain underlying conditions can get vaccinated. Elected officials and advocates have raised concerns that the city and state’s complex online appointment system could prove to be an insurmountable hurdle for older people who need the vaccine most. COVID-19. Even some seniors who managed to get a date agreed.
“It must be a little easier to get the date on, especially for those our age who may not be as computer literate,” said Robert Stone, 83, a Manhattan resident who s is vaccinated with his wife. The couple’s “very bright” granddaughter has reserved her seats.
Secretary of State Rossana Rosado, who also chairs the state’s Vaccine Equity Task Force, admitted the process was far from transparent to older New Yorkers and begged more tech-savvy relatives and friends to help with the first phase of vaccine deployment.
“People might think, ‘Well, it’s 65 and over, well that’s not me.’ But we need you to have the information you need to be able to help these people. “
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