LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Niagara County is set to get the largest shipment to date of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The county's Public Health Director Dan Stapleton said they will take a delivery next week of 6,500 first doses, the most ever in a single week so far.
“As with everything regarding COVID-19, the situation can change in a minute and that happened last night when I was notified by New York State that we would be getting this huge shipment of vaccine, which is great news for our community,” Stapleton said.
He stresses however, that appointments will not be available until the vaccine is actually received.
“Hopefully, people who have been frustrated trying to get an appointment will find better success,” Stapleton said. “A shipment of this size is the first step to really building critical mass toward herd immunity, but we don’t know if this is just a one week occurrence or whether we can begin to expect significant shipments like this each week going forward.”
The expectation is that 5,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines and 1,500 of the Moderna vaccines will be dispensed. Stapleton says these doses would nearly double the amount of vaccine the county has received so far.
As a result, the county will keep open its Point of Dispensing vaccination clinic (POD) at the Kenan Arena in Lockport instead of moving it to the Gratwick Hose Company in North Tonawanda as had been planned. As a result, those expecting to get their second dose shots at Gratwick Hose should be getting an email from the Health Department that they will now get that second shot at the Kenan Arena at the same date and time as their originally scheduled appointment.
“High volume point of dispensing operations require significant staffing and support from our staff, volunteers and partners,” Stapleton said. “Therefore, we are prioritizing our efforts on one high volume POD at a time to ensure the largest number of individuals are vaccinated in the shortest period of time.”