Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
WASHINGTON – Frustration continues to mount across New York State when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination effort.
County officials from across New York raised concerns about Governor the state’s vaccination rollout, which includes a clunky appointment system and also changes on when and where eligible residents can get vaccinated. In addition, some residents are frustrated they have to wait weeks in advance to get an appointment at a location that is an hours-drive or more away.
As recently as Friday, the Cuomo administration sent a memo to county health officials outlining a new directive instructing counties to use their recently activated vaccination sites only to administer doses to certain “essential workers,” including police officers, firefighters, teachers, college professors and grocery employees. It stated pharmacies “must vaccinate those over 65; hospitals must prioritize (phase) 1A healthcare workers.”
Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon said he and other county leaders are concerned that senior citizens, many of whom may not be “tech savvy,” were unable to schedule vaccination appointments through the state’s online portal and are getting left behind despite being among the most vulnerable to serious complications from COVID-19.
The registration backlog was exacerbated last week when Cuomo, citing new Centers for Disease Control guidelines, said the state would open up vaccinations to those 65 and older — it had previously been available for those 75 and older — in the second or “1B” phase of vaccinations.
Two weeks ago, county leaders had also criticized Cuomo’s vaccination team for fueling “chaos” as state-run phone banks were being overwhelmed and much of the general public remained confused about when and where they can receive the shots.
Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23), who represents Chautauqua County in Washington, said during his weekly conference call that he has been following the vaccination effort and is also critical of the governor for failing to make it easier for New Yorkers to get their shots.
“When you have a CDMS system, which is the crisis management natural disaster program – that’s software program that is the backbone on which they are relying on in order to schedule these events – crashing every minute, every two minutes so that the state system fails to even be able to administer and proactively take these appointments in. When I hear the governor try to deflect blame to the federal government and try to deflect blame on what is going on here, I’m not interested in blame, I’m interested in getting to the bottom and trying to figure out what’s going on here,” Reed said.
Reed also said he’s concerned about recent reports from the governor’s own office that show not all vaccinations received by the state are being used.
“When I demanded and received from the state, finally, after weeks of going with no answers, a report that comes back and shows that 25% of the doses that have been received by New York State are not going into the arms of New York State residents, that’s a major red flag for me. That is showing me that the system that these guys had ample time to prepare and educate the New York public on failed to get it into position,” Reed said.
The congressman added that he is now trying to figure out just how much of the state’s vaccination supply may have been thrown out, rather than used up.
In the meantime, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pointed the blame and the federal government, saying it has created problems in New York and other states by not providing enough vaccines to meet demand, especially after it opened up vaccine eligibility to more Americans.
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