NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The New York City Department of Health is closing their 15 official COVID-19 vaccination hubs starting Thursday because of a lack of supply.
The centers will remain shuttered through Sunday and all scheduled appointments will be automatically be rescheduled exactly one week from the original appointment for the same time.
"We had to tell 23,000 New Yorkers who had an appointment this week that they will not be able to get that appointment for lack of supply," Mayor Bill de Blasio said during his daily briefing Wednesday.
City Councilman Justin Brannan, who announces the news of the closures on Twitter, said, "No new appointments will be scheduled until there is more certainty on vaccine supply."
The mayor disclosed that the latest shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to New York City was delayed, futher complicating the city's supply shortage.
The mayor is asking the federal government and the state for the green light to immediately use vaccines on hand currently earmarked as second doses instead as the initial dose.
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"In this shortage dynamic let's free up those second doses, keep the appointments going that have already been made, help people get that first dose and then backfill with more supply in the coming days," de Blasio said. "Given that the Moderna deliveries have been delayed, we need to rethink the approach in this moment."
De Blasio is asking to free up the supply of second doses.
"To not hold them in reserve for weeks, not keep them in a refrigerator, but put them in people's arms. We need the freedom to vaccinate," the mayor said.
Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said the delay in delivering the Moderna shipment was a problem with the distributor, not the manufacturer, and that the vaccines themselves are in tact and safe.
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