NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that vaccine shipments the city has been waiting on may not arrive until Sunday because of winter storms slamming the U.S.
The city had hoped to get the vaccines Friday after it held off scheduling more than 30,000 vaccine appointments because of a supply shortage caused by the winter weather.
During his briefing Thursday, de Blasio said he just got word that, "We now think we might not get our new first doses for this week until Sunday."
"Normally we're talking about doses we get on a Tuesday or Wednesday, we may not get (those) doses until Sunday," the mayor said. "So, unfortunately, more delays because of the storm, because the deliveries are not arriving. In fact, a vast majority of the resupply we expected for this week has not shipped from the factories yet."
The delays shouldn't impact appointments for second doses of the vaccine, city health commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said.
De Blasio said the delay would mean that a new vaccination site in Queens, at Martin Van Buren High School, would not open on Friday as planned. Instead, it would open Sunday "at the earliest," he said.
The mayor said a second site at the Empire Outlets on Staten Island would still open Friday as scheduled.
The opening of both sites, first scheduled to open Thursday, had already been delayed amid the vaccine supply shortage.
"This is the situation we're in," de Blasio said. "It has been too hand-to-mouth in general, and then it's been made even worse by the storm."
De Blasio said the city had to hold back on scheduling 30,000 to 35,000 vaccination appointments this week as it waited for vaccine supplies to replenish.
