GEDDES, N.Y. — The New York State Fair Expo Center is among five state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites that started administering shots on Jan. 13 to those eligible individuals who had made appointments. Some campuses of the State University of New York will also soon serve as vaccination sites. State-run vaccination sites Besides the State Fair […]
GEDDES, N.Y. — The New York State Fair Expo Center is among five state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites that started administering shots on Jan. 13 to those eligible individuals who had made appointments.
Some campuses of the State University of New York will also soon serve as vaccination sites.
State-run vaccination sites
Besides the State Fair Expo Center, the other sites involved include the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City; Westchester County Center; Jones Beach off Long Island; and SUNY Albany, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Jan. 12. The state also plans to announce additional vaccination sites “in the coming days.”
To “further accelerate” the vaccination rate of priority health-care workers, and begin the vaccination of newly eligible New Yorkers, such as people ages 65 and over, New York has established a network of distribution sites that will “supplement” the work that hospitals are doing to prevent any one hospital from becoming overburdened.
This network includes the five state-run sites that opened Jan. 13, along with 15 more that hadn’t been announced yet. This new network will also utilize doctors’ offices, federally qualified health centers, county health departments, ambulatory centers, and pharmacies to get eligible New Yorkers inoculated.
More than 1,200 pharmacies have already committed to participating in this network, with nearly 400 scheduled to come online by Jan. 15. Pharmacies will be provided vaccines for New Yorkers ages 65 and older, while hospitals will continue vaccinating phase 1A health-care workers, and local health departments and union-organized efforts will serve essential workers in phase 1B.
Since federal supply “severely limits” the ability to distribute vaccine, Cuomo’s office encourages New Yorkers to “remain patient” and advises citizens to not show up at vaccination sites without an appointment.
New York’s distribution network and large population of eligible individuals “far exceed” the vaccine supply coming from the federal government, which is arriving at a rate of about 300,000 doses per week, the state says.
As such, eligible New Yorkers should be prepared to receive an appointment date “as far as 14 weeks or further in the future.”
SUNY campus involvement
In a Jan. 11 statement, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras recognized SUNY campuses that volunteered to serve as vaccination sites. They include Binghamton University, SUNY Potsdam, and SUNY Cortland.
“In the weeks and months to come, eligible New Yorkers will make appointments and arrive at these SUNY campuses to receive the vaccine and protection from COVID-19. I am proud of these institutions for mobilizing so quickly, and of our university system as a whole for continuing to offer major contributions in the battle against this virus.”
Binghamton University’s mass-vaccination site will open on a university property in Johnson City, according to Broome County Executive Jason Garnar.
SUNY Potsdam’s vaccination clinic will be hosted at the Maxcy Hall Athletic Complex, according to the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department.
Malatras said SUNY Cortland is partnering with Cortland County and Guthrie Cortland Medical Center on a large-scale clinic.
Broome Community College will also be another vaccination site, he said.