ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced earlier this month that people with certain underlying conditions would be eligible for the vaccine on Monday.
However, with supply already not meeting the demand, there are a lot of questions as to how this will all work.
Erie County provided a little bit of clarity on Saturday.
According to a new plan outlined by the Erie County Department of Health, hospitals are expected to play a key role in getting people with comorbidities vaccinated.
A release from the department of health explained New York State will provide them with a limited weekly allocation to cover Erie County residents who are eligible for the vaccine based on having one of the qualifying medical conditions.
The Erie County Department of Health now plans to distribute next week’s vaccine allocation for that category to hospitals.
In a tweet, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, "After consultation with local infectious disease experts, today @ECDOH announced that it will distribute any COVID-19 Vaccine doses sent by NYS exclusively for those with comorbidities to local hospitals to vaccinate their most at-risk in-patients."
The release indicates hospitals will then evaluate their patients and vaccinate those who are most-at-risk due to one or more comorbidities.
In response to our questions, a spokesperson with the Erie County Department of Health said they do not have a list of Erie County hospitals participating at this time, as they are still waiting to learn what the allotment total will be.
Mark Sullivan, the president and CEO of Catholic Health, provided the following statement:
"Catholic Health has been fortunate to partner with Erie County Executive Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Burstein throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and look forward to expanding our vaccine effort. We will work closely with other hospitals and medical providers in the region to ensure we take the most uniform and equitable approach, following guidance from the New York State and Erie County Departments of Health, in vaccinating inpatients and outpatients with comorbidities throughout our system."
Michael Hughes, the chief of staff at Kaleida Health, shared the following statement:
“We are working with the Erie County Department of Health, our partner hospitals in the community, as well as our physician leadership to ensure that there is consistency on vaccination for those with comorbidities when it begins next week. That said, there are still a lot of unknowns at this time such as exact information on quantities that we may receive or what the precise timeline of delivery will be. What we do know, however, is that this will be an extremely limited resource and that demand will quickly exceed supply. So this is expected to be a very long and evolving process.”
A spokesperson with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center released the following statement.
"We stand ready to vaccinate cancer patients and eligible members of our community. Many cancer patients who are undergoing active treatment may need input from their oncologist, and cancer centers around the country are advocating to serve as vaccination sites. We are currently out of first doses of vaccine and have not heard that we will be receiving more, but we are hopeful that we can continue to provide vaccinations to all those eligible."
A spokesperson with Erie County Medical Center released the following statement:
"ECMC has been following NYSDOH guidelines on vaccinating 1A healthcare workers and we are prepared to vaccinate patients with comorbidities next week once we receive the designated vaccine allocation for this purpose. Our clinical vaccination team will coordinate closely with the Erie County Department of Health and ECMC’s physician and nursing leadership for this next vaccination phase."
Additionally, at its Points of Distribution Clinics, the Erie County Department of Health is still working through appointments that were canceled in January due to lack of supplies.
