Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As we enter the middle of November and inching closer to the Thanksgiving holiday, 85% of the New York State population age 18 and older have received, at least, one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In Erie County alone, around 79.6% of the population age 18 and older have received, at least, one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines have been readily available to the public, with a number of people now receiving their third (or second for Johnson and Johnson) dose for their COVID-19 booster shots. According to owner and pharmacist at Brighton Eggert Pharmacy, Don Arthur, a number of those booster shots are of the Moderna doses.
When recently speaking with WBEN, Arthur said his pharmacies have been vaccinating between 75 and 100 people per-day. Most of the people entering the pharmacy have primarily received their booster shots of all three vaccines.
"In the beginning, it was the older population, the immunocompromised population, but as the government is allowing younger people to start to receive the third booster dose for Pfizer, we're seeing younger and younger adults coming in for that third vaccine," Arthur said.
However, there are still some cases of people coming in to receive their first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most of those doses administered have been of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, according to Arthur, which only takes one dose to be considered fully vaccinated following a two-week period after the shot.
Also among the group of people now receiving their COVID-19 vaccines are children ages 5-to-11 after the CDC approved the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine over a week ago.
"We started dosing the Pfizer pediatric for ages 5-to-11 on Friday. We received our first 50 doses on Thursday, and fortunately we received another 600 pediatric doses [Tuesday]," Arthur said. "So we plan on seeing a bit of an increase in the pediatric vaccinations with Pfizer."
In the early stages of the Pfizer pediatric vaccine, it is estimated that about 900,000 kids in the 5-to-11 age range will have received their first dose of the vaccine in the first week of eligibility.
Arthur says the numbers so for in Western New York have been low, but he believes that's due to the recent availability of the vaccine in the area.
"I think it's so new to Western New York," Arthur said. "We did 25 on Friday, we did a similar number of vaccinations [on Tuesday] at our pharmacy. I know that the Erie County [Department of Health] had a vaccination clinic, I think at [Oishei Children's Hospital] on Saturday and they vaccinated some children ages 5-to-11. So I think the fact that it's only been available for four or five days we haven't seen too many children.
"I think there's an increase in hesitancy, which is understandable. I think the government has consistently, strongly recommended that children in our community ages 5-to-11 receive the vaccine. They've recommended that the parents reach out to their pediatricians, and I'm hoping that's the process and that's what's going on right now. That parents are talking to their pediatrician and they're discussing within the family as to whether or not they want their children ages 5-to-11 [vaccinated]."
With the holiday season just around the corner and the likely gatherings of friends and families around Thanksgiving and Christmas time, Arthur is hoping that parents do decide to get their children vaccinated at any one of their local vaccination centers.
Meanwhile, Arthur says he has been working with local schools and other avenues to get more kids vaccinated for COVID-19 in the coming days and weeks.
"We've had several school districts reach out to us. We're going to be at Elmwood Franklin School next Thursday doing a pediatric flu clinic for them. We've had some individuals with the Ken-Ton school system reach out to us and we're trying to get back to them to discuss if we can help them with some pediatric vaccinations," Arthur explained. "Starting on Monday, we're going to be set up at the Walden Galleria with a company called KSL. It's a local company that's in the COVID testing business. They're a laboratory, and we're going to share some space with them, and we'll be offering vaccines from probably 10 in the morning until about seven in the evening, Monday through Saturday. And again, we'll be offering all three of the vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, [Johnson and Johnson], and actually four, because the pediatric dose is a separate strain."
Arthur also encourages anyone looking to get a COVID-19 vaccine, receive their booster shot or get their families vaccinated to stop in to his pharmacies, where they are open seven days a week to provide any of the available vaccines.
"We've brought on to our staff registered nurses in the community to help with the vaccinations. They're qualified and certified to provide vaccinations," Arthur said. "We've tried really hard to provide vaccines on a walk-up basis. It's hard for seniors in our community, young families, to have to go online and schedule an appointment and go through that process. Going through a busy chain pharmacy can be difficult, it can be frustrating. With the holidays and everything, it's getting busy, so we've decided to maintain no appointments necessary, walk-ins, and we've been able to accommodate them."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Arthur below:
