Mayor De Blasio says NYC will run out of COVID vaccine next week

New York City will run out of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of next week, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Friday. The shortage would disrupt the mayor’s goal of administering 1 million doses in the five boroughs by the end of January, delaying the prospect of quickly obtaining collective immunity and reopening safely.
“We will run out of vaccine next week in New York if there is not a very different approach from the federal government, state government and manufacturers,” de Blasio told The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. “We are not going to have enough vaccines by the end of next week.”

A source within Blasio’s administration told Gothamist that the city currently has 186,000 doses on hand. At the current rate of dose distribution, the city’s supply will run out on January 21.

This morning de Blasio pointed out that the vaccine shortage has even maintained hospitals such as Mt. Sinai and NYU Langone from booking new appointments. A review of hospital websites confirms this. Mt. Sinai was also cancellation of outgoing appointments.

Earlier on Friday, the Trump administration admitted that the country’s vaccine supply was empty last weekend, well before the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday that it would release stored doses. It’s unclear when the federal government will be able to deliver another batch of vials, which could slow access for millions of people still waiting to receive the vaccine. This includes those belonging to the Phase 1b category, the largest of the group in Phase 1 of the state’s vaccine deployment plan.

New York City has stepped up vaccinations across New York City after opening around 160 vaccination centers, including multiple 24/7 sites, to vaccinate up to 7,000 people with the Moderna vaccine or Pfizer-BioNTech. About 250 vaccination centers will be opened across the city by the end of the month. Between Monday and Thursday, 125,000 people were shot, de Blasio said. He expects more than 175,000 people to be vaccinated this week, exceeding the target he set for himself on Monday.

De Blasio said anyone who comes again for their first date will get a second appointment for now, given the three and four week waiting period between second shots for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, respectively. .

“But the growing problem now is that there aren’t enough vaccines to keep up with the first appointment let alone the second appointment,” de Blasio said.

Currently, the city is receiving 100,000 doses, which New York City Council members and Blasio called a paltry sum.