New York City authorities plan to administer one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of January, as the city of more than eight million people works to speed up the vaccination campaign beyond medical staff and first responders and into communities hard hit by the pandemic, according to local press.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the goal was achievable, although difficult, and would include opening 250 vaccination sites in school gymnasiums, community health centers and some facilities currently used for screening tests.
The city would also need support from the federal and state governments, including additional permission to vaccinate people in different priority groups to receive the vaccine, according to the mayor.
“We need to shift into high gear now. Every day we have to step up and reach more people, ”said De Blasio at a press conference.
So far, New York City has administered only a fraction of the amounts of vaccine it has received since mid-December, according to the same source. As of December 31, the city had administered 88,410 of the more than 430,000 it had received.
Priority was given to hospital staff, and most doses of the vaccine were given in local hospitals and nursing homes.
Vaccinating more than eight million people could take months and would mark the largest vaccination operation in New York City history, de Blasio said.
In the United States, the vaccination campaign launched three weeks ago is lagging behind the ambitious goal announced to vaccinate 20 million people before the end of 2020.
Of the more than 12 million doses of Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines that have been distributed, only 2.8 million have been administered, according to official statistics.
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