NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — There’s concern down in Allegany County that literally hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine appointments may not be taken this weekend.
For weeks, officials in rural counties have been clamoring for these doses.
If they’re not used, they could go elsewhere. To learn more about booking an appointment you can click here.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were still more than 600 COVID-19 vaccine appointments available this weekend through the Allegany County website. Most of those appointments were filled up by Sunday, with only 35 remaining.
Is there any concern that some of these appointments won’t be filled?
"There’s always that concern," said Jami D’Arcy, deputy health director with the Allegany County Department of Health.
D'Arcy says the county received more than 3,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna earlier this week from the state, with little turnaround time.
"Getting the word out to the public and getting people to sign up has been a little difficult. We just have not had a lot of time to advertise," D'Arcy said.
Efforts have been made to contact schools and use social media. Nearby, Chautauqua County is trying to spread the word on its website.
"I think we’ve exhausted a lot of our resources that we do have here," D'Arcy said.
Just this week, Community Health Center of Buffalo says it received 100 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine directly from the federal government. CHCB is a federally qualified health center, and the federal government is sending doses of vaccine directly to these agencies across the country.
Doses at CHCB are being used on eligible patients, and to finish up vaccinating staff and their immediate families.
"Next week we’ll wrap up the rest of the people we were unable to get to this week, and then we plan on opening up to the public and doing pop-up sites, once again, in ensuring equitable and fair vaccinations," said Dr. Kenyani Davis, the chief medical officer of Community Health Center of Buffalo.
People who are eligible to be vaccinated are encouraged to call Community Health Center of Buffalo to make an appointment. That number is (716) 986-9199.
In the meantime, in Allegany County, if those appointments aren’t booked, doses could be redistributed to the Western New York Vaccination HUB.