This story was originally published on January 21, 2021
New York City has brought a number of new vaccine hubs and facilities online as it ramps up for mass vaccinations after a rocky early rollout of the process. But even robust infrastructure won't help the city if it runs out of doses of the scarce vaccine — which it is expected to as early as the end of the week.
A new 24/7 vaccine site opened last week alongside Brooklyn Army Terminal, a former military supply base that is now used as a commercial hub. One of the first such facilities in the city, it was originally constructed for COVID-19 testing but has been retrofitted to vaccinate up to 2,000 people per day when fully operational. Each borough will have a similar facility with an additional mega-site expected to open at Citi Field in Queens within the week.
Patients receiving their vaccines on the first few days of operations didn't seem to mind the series of steps involved, including a mandatory and somewhat complicated reservation system, a wait in line, and registration.
Jennifer Weyburn, an educator, said her friends and colleagues walked her through the appropriate steps to register.
"I mean it wasn't intuitive, but you figured it out," she said.
Authorities hoped the reservation process would keep lines from forming or crowds from gathering. Still, wait times were hours long at facilities in Staten Island over the weekend, according to SILive. Patients at the Brooklyn site reported quick wait times by comparison.
Rebecca Wexler, a teacher, said the entire process took her about an hour and 15 minutes from start to finish.
"It was flawless for me. I'm surprised and happy to say," she said.
There was also a consistent flow of curious New Yorkers without appointments wandering up to inquire about the shot.
"It's by appointment. And we're trying to reiterate that, but of course, people are used to using our testing sites as walk-in only," said Dr. Jonathan Jimenez, medical director of community testing and vaccination sites with NYC Health + Hospitals.
Once inside, patients are escorted to one of 23 pods, where they will meet with a nurse practitioner to receive their injection. Brooklyn Army Terminal offers the Moderna vaccine, which, according to the CDC, is 94.1 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 illness. After they receive the shot, patients are herded toward a waiting area, where they are observed by medical professionals for any reaction to the drug. The CDC recommends 15 to 30 minutes of observation, depending on medical history.
After receiving her first dose of the Moderna vaccine, Weyburn said she was elated to receive the shot earlier than anticipated. But she wasn't ready to let her guard down yet.
"I guess the big thing is not to get over-elated and to keep on doing social distancing, and wearing masks," she said.
Especially as more New Yorkers become eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, facilities like the one at Brooklyn Army Terminal will play a crucial part in New York City's strategy to ramp up vaccinations. But Mayor Bill de Blasio said shortages of doses could impair those efforts. The city already canceled or rescheduled some 23,000 vaccine appointments due to inadequate supply, exacerbated by a delivery delay of the Moderna vaccine, the Associated Press reported.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he expects doses across the state to run dry within days.
Close to 908,000 people across the state have received their first dose of the vaccine, and 136,500 have received their second dose, according to New York state's COVID-19 tracker. Even so, the pressure is on officials to continue the rollout uninterrupted as hospitalizations creep up to levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic.
This story was photographed and edited by Douglas C. Murray
Mona Zhang, states cannabis policy reporter at POLITICO Pro joins Cheddar News to discuss major factors that caused Canada's retail marijuana sales to drop last year.
The January 6 committee has asked Ivanka Trump to give voluntary testimony, saying there's evidence she was in "direct contact" with her father on the day of the capitol insurrection. I's unclear whether she will comply with the invitation, but it marks the first time the House committee has sought testimony from a member of the former president's family. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joined Cheddar News to discuss what the committee hopes to learn from Ivanka and what the Supreme Court's decision on Trump's Jan. 6 materials means for the investigation.
Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast joins Cheddar News to discuss Russia's attempt to invade Ukraine.
With an increasing number of teachers and staff calling out sick by the day, the state of Oklahoma is turning to an unusual solution. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that permits state employees to work as substitute teachers. Shaily Baranwal, founder and CEO of Elevate K-12, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the stance of the U.S. and its allies should Russia make any forays into Ukraine, a seeming response to President Biden's remarks that should Putin engage in something short of a full invasion, there might be some indecision among allied nations regarding what to do. Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the think tank Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar to discuss the difficulty faced by Blinken wrangling unity as tensions run high in the region. "There'll be a smaller incursion, and the president implied, there'll be a weaker response because our European allies have created this horrible situation where they are dependent on Moscow for their gas supply," Cohen explained.
During a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, President Biden spoke on his accomplishments and challenges from the first year of his presidency, and what his administration hopes to accomplish in the coming year. However, his approval ratings are underwater as COVID remains a big concern for voters — as does inflation, noted Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. "The public thinks [inflation] is priority number one, and the administration is concerned about it, they talk about it, but they're not spending enough time on it as far as the public is concerned," said Bevan.
The drama surrounding tennis star Novak Djokovic continues after he was deported from Australia over the weekend due to the nation's COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Djokovic was forced to leave the country on the eve of what was to be his first match in defense of his Australian Open title after three judges ruled in favor of his removal and revealed their reasoning for doing so. Adding to his woes, a law recently passed in France is putting his chances of defending his French Open title in jeopardy. The director of Marist's Center for Sports Communication, Jane McManus, joined Cheddar to discuss the ongoing fallout.
As the midterm elections get ever closer, candidates have been getting creative with their campaigns to stick out and to connect with voters. Gary Chambers, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, has definitely attracted attention with an advertisement featuring him smoking a blunt, making a point about the inequity of anti-cannabis laws. "We wanted to bring the seriousness of the moment," he said of the ad. "But we also wanted to make sure that people understand that there are 19 states that are legal right now but Black people and brown people are being over-incarcerated in mostly Southern and Midwestern states in America for cannabis possession."
If some members of Congress have their way, there might finally be a 'TLDR' on sites' terms of service, introduced by the terms-of-service labeling, design, and readability act – or TLDR for short. With this act, users will actually understand what they're agreeing to or the many ways in which their data is being used before pressing 'accept.' J.D. sat down with co-sponsor of the bill and Senator Bill Cassidy, to discuss.
