Some 22,000 people who had an appointment to be vaccinated saw their long-awaited opportunity to protect themselves from covid had to be rescheduled in the face of the imminent vaccine shortage.
Martha Mendoza, who got her vaccinated at this center in Queens, said that her husband’s appointment was changed for next Thursday.
And this despite the fact that he is over 70 years old.
“My husband, who is an older man, was hopeful that they were going to give him the vaccine, so for him it is very sad that there are not enough vaccines for the people who really need it,” Mendoza said.
And although a long line surrounded this center, most were people who came to be tested for COVID.
Despite the shortage, workers at the center assured that they still had vaccines to immunize people with the longed-for first dose.
“I came to see if they are giving the previous appointments and for the ‘rapid tests’ but there is a lot of shortage of vaccines,” said a neighbor. “You are desperate because you have a family but you have to be patient.”
The city has used up more than 90 percent of the first doses of the vaccine as more people want immunization than there are doses available.
Roughly half a million New Yorkers have been vaccinated.
The city has vaccines for the second dose in its possession and is studying whether they are used as the first dose for New Yorkers who have not been vaccinated.
The state of New York meanwhile cries out for more doses to the federal government.
“I think that is what the new president has to do, get the vaccines so that all the people are well,” said another neighbor.
President Biden is drawing up a plan to distribute the vaccine and signed an executive order to increase production of the vaccine.
For the people who changed their appointment, they did not miss the opportunity to get vaccinated, but to inoculate themselves a week later.
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