NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York City surpassed 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
“In New York City, we have provided 1,032,158 vaccinations,” the mayor said during his daily press conference.
WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb says the mayor announced the news with pride but, added that the city could be doing much more.
“This is a really good sign of what we can do in the city but, we could be doing so much more,” he said. “We're literally not able to do hundreds of thousands of vaccinations each week right now for lack of supply.”
Hizzoner said he would like to see other pharmaceutical companies help out in vaccine production.
“We need to see the pharmaceutical companies step up in a way they're not right now. There’s only two companies and a third coming, we need to see the rest of the pharmaceutical industry step up and help speed up this vaccination production,” the mayor said.
De Blasio claims New York City could be administering 500,000 doses per week, if the vaccination supply increases.
Meanwhile, Mayor de Blasio also addressed concerns that Queens may be getting shortchanged when it comes to vaccination efforts.
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During the Q&A portion of his conference, one reporter asked the mayor why the mega vaccination site at Citi Field in Queens was only getting 800 doses while Yankee Stadium in the Bronx was getting “quadruple” that number.
Both sites are only vaccinating Queens and Bronx residents, respectively, and Mayor de Blasio said the disparity in vaccine doses is Albany’s doing.
“That specific plan for Yankee Stadium was one develop with the state,” de Blasio said. “I want to see more vaccines shifted, of course, to the Citi Field site and that will happen in the days ahead.”
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He notes that he expects to see vaccine production and distribution ramp up in the coming weeks but, says the city still has no control over vaccine allocation.
“The state still controls the vaccine distribution,” the mayor said. “We're dealing, as we have throughout this crisis, with federal decisions, federal red tape, state decisions, state red tape.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that state would be getting an additional 5% boost in COVID-19 vaccine supply from the federal government over the next coming weeks – meaning New York City will also soon see a boost in supply.
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