BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Are you still having difficulties getting the COVID-19 vaccine?
Since the vaccines were first distributed in December, availability was limited to certain segments of the population. Beginning Tuesday, April 6, all people age 16 and older can sign up to get a vaccine, which will only make doses more difficult to come by. The eligibility puts New York State nearly a month ahead of the White House mandate that all adults be made eligible by May 1.
Where do I start?
There are at least three websites that are verified as vaccine trackers in Western New York.
New York State's "Am I Eligible": This website lists all of the state-run vaccination sites, including the University at Buffalo South Campus, Delavan Grider Community Center, and The Conference Center Niagara Falls. Appointments can be scheduled at any location in the state. The Delavan Grider Community Center is only available to Erie County residents while the other two locations are available for anyone who is eligible for the vaccine. While you may come across the message that there are no appointments available at a certain location, you should refresh the page periodically to see if appointments available. All of the local state-run sites are currently offering the Pfizer vaccine, though other locations in the state have Johnson & Johnson doses.
VaccineFinder.org: This website is operated by epidemiologists and developers at Boston Children's Hospital and also supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York State is also promoting this site to find vaccines. VaccineFinder.org lists all the pharmacies within a certain radius of a zip code that distribute the vaccines. There are occasions where this website will say vaccines are in stock when they are actually not. However, this website is useful in that it lists pharmacies that have the vaccines and we encourage you to visit the websites of the pharmacies listed within here. This site will also help you if you want to pick and choose which type of vaccine you'd like.
VaccineHound.org: Vaccine Hound is operated by volunteers at the University at Buffalo who check local government, health care, and pharmacy websites in the Western New York region. They acknowledge their data is not perfect and that appointments may seem available but actually are not.
Pharmacies that carry the vaccine
For this section, we are using data from VaccineFinder.org and will list the pharmacies included within 50 miles of the "14201" zip code in the City of Buffalo. While the
County Health Departments:
Erie County Department of Health:
Niagara County Department of Health
Cattaraugus County Department of Health
Allegany County Department of Health
Chautauqua County Department of Health
Genesee Orleans County Department of Health
Click here to view full information about the COVID-19 vaccinate from the New York State Department of Health.
We will continue to update this page as more options become available.
