BUFFALO, N.Y. — Approve the vaccine, prepare for the vaccine, distribute the vaccine. That's the expectation shared by most leading up to the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine and now the Moderna vaccine.
However, as Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz stated earlier Thursday, there have been some issues with distribution this week.
"ECMC's doses were not sent to ECMC, they were sent to Millard Fillmore Suburban and Olean General. I have no idea why," he said during a COVID-19 update.
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center also experienced a distribution hiccup.
Joe Ruffolo is CEO and president of the medical center, and he says they have been preparing for vaccines for months. When they found out earlier this week that their allocation arrived at Catholic Health, it was troublesome.
"It was very disheartening when we initially found out that there was no shipment coming our way," Ruffolo says.
The next step, Ruffolo says, was reaching out to the New York State Department of Health, which, in concert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would hopefully give his team clearance to pick up their doses and bring them back to the medical center.
"From a logistical standpoint and from a compliance point of view and ease of convenience, much better if we're administering on our own campus so that employees, during their shift, can come up to the clinic, get vaccinated, and go back to their shift," he says.
As of noon Thursday, the DOH granted that approval. Vaccines are now where they were intended to go.
"We are now contacting the DOH because they have to observe the first vaccines that are administered," Ruffolo says, regarding next steps.
So, how did this happen?
The county executive says the answers and responsibility lie with the state, as it is overseeing both the distribution process and the tracking process.
"The vaccines have not come to Erie County, as I've said, the vaccines went directly from New York State to the hospitals," Poloncarz said.
2 On Your Side reached out the DOH for comment. A spokesperson could not directly answer our questions regarding what happened at ECMC. However, he did say that all who qualified now have vaccines.
ECMC says that they now have vaccines and will start vaccinating Friday morning.
As for moving forward, Ruffolo says, his hope is that these hiccups don't become a trend.
"My confidence level will be strengthened when our next shipment comes, if it comes directly to us," he said.