Supplies dwindling as bumpy vaccine rollout in NY continues

Thousands of appointments canceled as NY runs low on vaccines

New York is expected to run out of its supply of coronavirus vaccines Friday night, and it's not clear when the next shipment from the federal government will arrive.

NEW YORK - Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday that New York's supply of coronavirus vaccine would likely run out Friday, and isn't expected to be refreshed until next week, and even then it will only be enough to get through several days.

"We have 28,000 dosages left in the state," Cuomo said.

While more dosages from the federal government have begun to arrive, Como said that the state would now go week to week in administering them.

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Officials say regional allocation of the vaccine will be adjusted to match the percentage of the population of those eligible to receive the vaccine, beginning with healthcare workers who account for 21%, followed by essential workers.

Cuomo: mutation roulette

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the federal government needs to step up the distribution of vaccine doses to New York and all the other states. He is also concerned that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could mutate into a vaccine-resistant strain.

The third eligible group, New Yorkers 65 and over, make up about 52% of the eligible population.

Cuomo asked seniors to avoid hospitals to get the vaccine but instead to go to pharmacies and mass vaccination sites to get their doses, as outlined by the Department of Health's prioritization list.

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With the state averaging over 80,000 dosages a day, Cuomo said it was imperative that vaccine providers follow the rules to make sure those dosages get fairly distributed and to avoid the canceling of vaccine appointments.