NEW YORK (WBEN) — New York State is getting a vaccine boost thanks to the new COVID stimulus passed earlier this month.
"We can describe what we are doing in two words: vaccine supercharge," said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer on Friday.
Speaking at the Ryan Community Health center in New York City, Schumer said the COVID-19 relief package will provide the state with a 33% increase in vaccines – translating to 1.65 million doses per week.
"This is a federal program, it's all federal, and it will augment and, in some places, supplant the state and local programs, but it augments them, and we want to get this done as quickly as possible," Schumer said of the vaccine increase.
The Democratic senator said community vaccination sites will be the primary focus moving forward.
"There will be over 200 of these sites throughout New York, administering the vaccine at our community health center sites," he told reporters.
Around 5,000 workers will help administer the shots at each community center.
Schumer was joined by White House Coronavirus Coordinator Jeff Zients, who praised the boost as creating "enough vaccine supply for all adult Americans."
The weekly increase will last through the end of April in New York. It remains to be seen if the supply surge will mean all New York adults can become eligible before May, though 80% are already eligible.
When asked if the Cuomo administration will expand eligibility to all adults before President Joe Biden's May 1 goal, advisor Jack Sterne responded:
"Everyone's goal is the same: getting as many shots into arms as humanly possible, in an efficient, equitable, and safe way. Right now, we are averaging 144,000 shots per day – nearly double out rate one month ago – and over the last seven days, we've administered over 1 million doses. We have a nation-leading distribution network, and the only thing we're missing are more doses to administer, and the federal government has told us more are on the way."
