LOCKPORT, N.Y. — A major grocery store and pharmacy chain says they still have not received their Covid-19 vaccine allocation this week.
This as, some county health departments try to supplement the lack of doses pharmacies have.
Tops Markets says usually their pharmacies get shipments of the Moderna vaccine at the beginning of the week. But, not this week.
"We're still waiting to hear from the state on what our allocation is going to be we're just as much in a wait and hold period as the community is," said Kathleen Sautter, a spokesperson for Tops.
And as of Tuesday afternoon, Wegmans also says they don't have any doses available, therefore seniors cannot make an appointment. 2 On Your Side inquired with the state on what's going on. Pharmacies are specifically authorized by the state, to vaccinate people 65 years old and older.
Governor Andrew Cuomo says health departments at vaccination sites should be getting essential workers the shot. But, over at the Kenan Center Arena in Lockport Tuesday, we found the Niagara County Health Department is vaccinating both essential workers and seniors.
"So, we're helping out with that population because we have a huge proportion of people who are 65 plus with walkers with wheelchairs they need to be protected now, so we're filling in the gap left by pharmacies who can't just vaccinate as much as they want to," said Dan Stapleton, the public health director in Niagara County.
700 people got the shot here Tuesday -- 300 more on Thursday. That's about half what the number of vaccinations the county did last week.
But, for Wegmans and Tops, their number is at zero for the week, so far, and that there's no magic time to look for and get an appointment.
"It really is dependent on when those vaccinations get to our doors and we're able to get that information into the computer system so there is no set time day or night," Sautter said.
Those appointments fill up immediately. Tops says people are driving several counties away to get the vaccine and the company will start doing second doses next month.
Stapleton echoes the determination many have in getting the vaccine saying: "The person who just walked by she said it’s like winning the lottery that’s the fact we have people who are crying because they’re so happy to get the shot."
On Tuesday, Wegmans released this statement: "Currently, we are receiving a limited amount of vaccine from the state and can only administer to those who qualify under the state's guidelines. We know the vaccine is in high demand, and we will continue opening additional appointments as more vaccine becomes available to us."
New York State Department of Health Spokesperson Jeffrey Hammond issued this statement Tuesday to 2 On Your Side.
“Our singular goal is to get as many New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly as possible – but due to a lack of supply from the federal government, we are not able to further expand eligibility at this point. Currently over 7 million New Yorkers are eligible for the vaccine, but our weekly allocation of doses from the federal government was cut without any explanation. While we understand the concerns and requests of all New Yorkers, we are constrained until the Federal government steps up and provides more doses -- hopefully this will change with the new administration.”
Governor Cuomo explained this situation during his briefing on Friday:
"Week six dosages are being delivered as we speak. They come in throughout the week. They are delivered by the federal government through various means, one of them interestingly enough is through the Federal Express, but they're basically delivered through private carriers, and they arrive at different times across the week. Some jurisdictions are starting to receive them already. That's 250,000 dosages and they are now being delivered.
The moment the vaccines arrive, our goal is to get them in arms as soon as possible. 80,000 per day; 250,000 doses per week is not enough and in truth, we can be doing more than 80,000 dosages per day. We have about 1,200 distributors. We can ramp that distribution network up very quickly. The 1,200 distributors are more distributors than we need. I can't provide the 1,200 distributors with all they could use now because we only get 240,000. We want to have that distribution network in place because we're hoping to get more production and I want to anticipate more production and have that distribution network in place. I'd rather have more distribution waiting for vaccine, than having vaccine sitting on a shelf waiting for distribution. So, we have about 1,200 distributors. We could go to 2,000, 3,000 distributors, just like that, and we could easily do 100,000 dosages per day. That would be 700,000 per week. So, we're limited by our supply. When we get the supply, we distribute it by region, right?"
