NEW YORK (WKBW) — During a briefing Friday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo addressed problems in the COVID-19 vaccine distribution and scheduling in the state.
In all, around 7 million New Yorkers are currently eligible for the vaccine. Due to the amount of those eligible and the number of doses the state receives from the federal government each week, the governor said vaccine reservations are booked for 14 weeks at this point.
Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has encountered issues with scheduling and had to cancel a vaccine clinic scheduled for Friday.
Several viewers have also reached out to 7 Eyewitness News with concerns due to a vaccine appointment being scheduled then canceled and also the inability to schedule an appointment.
The governor said Friday sites that have shown they are faster at vaccinating people will receive more doses of the vaccine than those that are slower.
Cuomo also announced the allocation of first doses of the vaccine the state will receive from the federal government next week will be 250,000 instead of the usual 300,000.
The percentage of allocated first dosages in arms is uneven by regions across the state, according to Cuomo. The North Country leads with a 90% vaccination performance rate while New York City only has a 60% vaccination performance rate.
Statistics were also provided for the highest and lowest performing hospitals in each region in regard to first doses of the vaccine that have been administered in the first three weeks of distribution.
In the Western New York region several hospitals have administered 90% or more of allocated first doses of the vaccine while Roswell Park was listed at 75% and Mount St. Mary's Hospital was listed at 65%.
Roswell Park says it has vaccinated about 90% of its staff and 50% of its frontline clinical staff has been vaccinated with the full schedule of two doses as of January 14. A spokesperson says the data only shows 75% of vaccines administered because Roswell serves as a vaccine storage site for other facilities and that is not distinguishable in the data.
In the Finger Lakes region several hospitals have administered 80% or more of allocated first doses of the vaccine while a few are listed at 75% or lower.
Statistics were also provided on the percentage of hospital staff vaccinated by region. The state has repeatedly said hospital staff are the number one priority for vaccinations.
In the Western New York region 63% of hospital staff have been vaccinated with 23.5% declining the vaccine. In the Finger Lakes region 70.5% of hospital staff has been vaccinated with 18.3% declining the vaccine.
The state also provided statistics on the highest and lowest performing hospitals in each region in regard to the percent of hospital staff vaccinated.
In the Western New York region the percentage of hospital staff vaccinated at specific hospitals as of January 14 ranged from 83% to 40.8%.
In the Finger Lakes region the percentage of hospital staff vaccinated at specific hospitals as of January 14 ranged from 80.6% to 50.7%.
