BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - How can the coronavirus vaccine rollout be improved?
The clear answer from public officials was to increase its supply. New York State this week received 250,000 doses of the vaccine from the federal government, though 7 million New Yorkers are eligible to receive it, resulting in much frustration among those eligible who cannot book appointments due to demand and from distributors who have been forced to cancel appointments because they don't have the supply of the vaccine.
"We are set," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said of the county's logistical operation of the vaccine. "We have multiple freezers waiting to hold vaccines for extended periods. We have teams set…We have the staff. We have the technology and the capability to deliver thousands of doses on a weekly basis. We just need the doses."
Officials in other Western New York counties like Niagara County Public Health Director Dan Stapleton also said they face an issue with vaccine supply, though they haven't needed to cancel any clinics yet.
"The coordination and a consistent message is key so we know which direction to go in," Stapleton said of improvements the state can make. "Whether it's the contact tracing or mass vaccination clinics, that's something that public health has been experts in. This is no different, but we need to make sure we get the supplies we need when we need them. Because it's such a big operation…we need to count on when we will have vaccine because I can't have all my staff ready to roll and then have it stop because we just don't have the vaccine we want."
State officials have used the metaphor that the coronavirus response is like building a plane while flying it. There have been multiple and abrupt changes to state policy during the pandemic ranging from testing, reopening, cluster zones, and even with vaccine eligibility.
"Building the plane while they're flying it is the perfect analogy," Erie County Minority Leader Joe Lorigo said. "That's what happens when you have one person controlling everything going on with COVID throughout the entire state."
Lorigo said the vaccine process is too much for one person to handle. Within Erie County, Lorigo is also pushing for additional Health and Human Services committee meetings to ask questions related to the local vaccine rollout, saying there has not been one since November.
"The public wants this vaccine," Stapleton said. "I think we're used to having to convince the public to take behaviors seriously. That's not the situation right now because people want the vaccine and they know it's what they ened to do in order to stop the pandemic. They're ready to do it and we just need vaccine to do it. I know it's got to be frustrating for the state because it's definitely frustrating to us."
Governor Cuomo said New York State is taking a "week to week" approach on the vaccine's distribution.
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Currently, Moderna and Pfizer are the only vaccines that have been approved in the United States. AstraZeneca's vaccine is not expected to be approved until the spring. A vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson has also not been authorized for use yet in the United States and may not for weeks.
