Vaccine deployment is slow. Are these pop-up vaccination sites useful?

Upper East Side physiotherapist Kelly Pitchiro, 29, was checking out a physiotherapist in New York City. website For days to know when she can get the coronavirus vaccine. Many healthcare professionals in the top priority groups, like Picciurro, were anxiously waiting for their turn.

Picciurro was one of the first people at the East Harlem clinic on Tuesday morning after it was finally available online on Monday. This is one of the city’s first two pop-up vaccination sites and a vaccination campaign.

Efforts to vaccinate millions of New Yorkers with the virus have made a stagnant start, alerting the city and health authorities at the time. The number of infections is increasing rapidly And More contagious variants Detected in state. To increase capacity, the city plans to open more than 100 of these new immunization hubs.

By 9am, a medical worker, Trickle, still in scrub, arrived at the East Harlem site by bicycle from a nearby neighborhood, by car from Long Island, and by taxi. Eric Ettinger, a 65-year-old clinic receptionist who rode a bicycle just before dawn, was refused to bring in, as he first lined up and waited more than an hour before being told that a reservation was needed. ..

For those who were lucky enough to make a reservation, the process was simple and the site wasn’t busy on the first day of vaccination.

“I got a fair share of the Covid test, and this was nothing compared to that process,” Picciurro said after getting her shot. “Vaccination gives me a little more peace of mind when I get on the train to work.”

The city’s first vaccine pop-up site (also in Lower Manhattan, which opened on Tuesday) is one of about 125 new locations for administering the coronavirus vaccine, which is scheduled to open by the end of January, and is currently Double the number. .. The goal is to accelerate the rate at which New Yorkers are vaccinated.

As of Tuesday morning 118,000 people Data show that they were vaccinated in New York City, despite having been vaccinated more than 480,000 times in New York City. There were few vaccinations on Christmas and New Year’s Day, and a limited number of vaccinations on weekends. At that pace, officials said it would take more than four years to reach everyone in the city.

only Received by 690 people A second dose of the required vaccine as of Monday night.

According to city and state officials, this week’s delays include restrictive rules governing who can be vaccinated first, overwhelming hospitals suffering from logistics, and vaccinated nursing homes. Part of the cause was a slower pace than expected. According to the city hall, as of Monday, there were only 11,000 inhabitants through a program run by the federal government.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo criticized several hospitals on Monday for saying that staff were not urgently vaccinated. Threatened to impose a $ 100,000 fine For those who do not distribute vaccine quotas within a week.

“We want to put those vaccines in people’s arms. This is a very serious public health problem,” Cuomo added.

However, these issues are beginning to be resolved.

On monday, the state Green light To a much larger group of healthcare workers and others at the forefront of vaccines, such as public health workers, paramedics, dentists, and phlebotomists. The current challenge is for all newly qualified people (up to 1 million) to make reservations.

The city started the process at a pop-up clinic on Tuesday. The Pop-up Clinic initially only offers reservations this Tuesday-Saturday from 8am to 7pm.The· plansCreated through a contractor called a partner doctor, was filled within hours of opening on Monday.

“Note: At this time, there is no time frame available for COVID vaccination appointments at the pop-up clinic,” the website said on Monday night.

More plans It will be available on Wednesday as the city’s public health system begins to open vaccine hubs for healthcare workers who are not working in hospitals. However, deployment takes time. The first three school-based vaccine centers will open on Sunday, but so far only one day. An additional public hospital site will open shortly.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told the city on Tuesday morning I was planning to open 5 big vaccination sites Over the next few weeks, it will operate 24 hours a day, with a goal of 100,000 doses per week.

Mark Levine, chairman of the city council’s health committee, said the city would need to vaccinate 400,000 people a week in order to obtain herd immunity by the middle of the year. This is well above the current pace of 40,000 people.

“This is a small step in the right direction,” said Levine City Councilor about the new vaccine clinic. “We have to have more places, more staff, more time and days.”

As a wide range of health care workers became vaccinated on Monday, we urgently investigated where vaccinations could be available among healthcare providers not affiliated with the hospital system.

Pediatricians and other private doctors were among those who were confused about where to go. On Monday, New York State Medical Association Chairman Bonnie Litbach said her office “received hundreds of emails and phone calls from these doctors asking where they and their staff should be vaccinated. “.

Many New Yorkers will eventually be vaccinated in public places in the city, Levine said. Emergency medical and federal-qualified health centers, along with hospitals, also serve as distribution sites as large-scale efforts come online.

West Harlem’s physiotherapist assistant Emily Long, 35, said there was a festive atmosphere in the East Harlem Clinic as she sat for 15 minutes after vaccination to make sure there were no allergic reactions. It was.

While she was waiting, she wanted to take a selfie and project her confidence in the vaccine to others. “The big reason for me was to show my friends and family that I believed in this vaccine,” she said.

The sight of a public clinic opening to immunize New Yorkers as well as providing coronavirus testing was a surprise to some residents. Test line.

Kevin Boyd, 54, the caretaker of a hospital in Lower Manhattan, was returning home from a midnight shift when he passed the East Harlem vaccination site, where the East Harlem Neighborhood Health Action Center was lacking. Boyd, who believes he is at high risk for diabetes, is discussing whether to get the hospital-provided vaccine. Boyd didn’t know that a pop-up site would open near his home.

“I’m still waiting, I’m not in a hurry to get it,” he said. “But if you change your mind, you’ll be here, so it’s good to be in the immediate vicinity.”