BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) The state's expanded vaccination rollout has been marred by jammed phone lines and confusion.
It was difficult to get through to the state's new hotline on the first day and the state mistakenly listed a wrong phone number for Erie County.
"People are so anxious to get this shot," said Don Arthur, owner of Brighton Eggert Pharmacy in Tonawanda. "That's a good thing."
Arthur said things got confusing when the state rolled out Phase 1B. That opened vaccine eligibility to Individuals 75 and Older, First Responders, Corrections Officers, Teachers and Other School Staff; In-Person College Instructors, Childcare Workers, Public Facing Grocery Store Workers, Transit Workers and Individuals Living and Working in Homeless Shelters. There are three million people in the 1B group.
"Retail pharmacies in the state network are only permitted to vaccinate those who are 75 years of age or older," said Arthur. Shortly after our interview with Arthur, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York residents age 65+ are now eligible for the vaccine, effective immediately.
Select pharmacies are going to receive their first allocations of the vaccine on Thursday. Arthur thinks they will each receive about 100 doses, which he said won't meet a fraction of the demand. "That would last about an hour and a half," he said, when asked how long 100 doses of vaccine would last in his pharmacy. He compared it to Covid rapid testing. Brighton Eggert Pharmacy in Tonawanda is one of the region's largest Covid testing sites, averaging about a thousand tests per day.
The bottom line said Arthur, pharmacies can only vaccinate people age 65 and older. Other people in the 1B category should reach out to other approved vaccination locations; New York State, Erie County, hospitals, urgent care and community physician practices.
"Be patient seniors," said Arthur. "The process is going to be frustrating because the demand is far exceeding the supply." He does, however, expect a lot more vaccine to be hitting the market in the next few weeks.
