New York reaches nearly 828,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered

ALBANY, N.Y. — A total of 827,715 doses of a coronavirus vaccine have been administered so far in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his Friday COVID-19 briefing.

Of those, 731,285 were first doses and 96,430 were second doses. So, among a total population of 19.5 million, about 3.75 percent of New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine dose, while about 0.5 percent (one out of every 200 residents) have been fully vaccinated.

The governor said 74 percent of the vaccine first doses New York State has received from the federal government have gone into arms. It’s 80 percent in Central New York, 83 percent in the Mohawk Valley, 90 percent in the North County, and 78 percent in the Southern Tier.

Cuomo said the state has been scheduling appointments up to 14 weeks out and most of the vaccine sites are fully booked. The governor contended that the state is limited by the federal supply of 300,000 doses per week, which was reduced to 250,000 for next week.

New York and every distributor of the vaccine is saying, “I need more,” and every citizen is saying, “I want it faster,” per Cuomo.

The governor said the five mass-vaccination sites the state has already set up, like the one at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes, and the eight sites it will add next week, are the most-effective way to get the vaccines into New Yorkers’ arms in big numbers.