Mayor de Blasio Says Could Vaccinate 500,000 a Week, Only Supply of Shots is Needed

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Just last week, Mayor de Blasio was aiming to vaccinate one million New Yorkers in January, but today, he insisted that the city has the capability to vaccinate a half million people in a week.   

    “In New York City, we can move so fast,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said this morning as if he were speaking to the federal government, “so please help us get more supply of the vaccine.          

     “I can guarantee you, we can get the vaccines to people fast, fast, and faster than anyplace else. 

     What is slowing down the vaccination process right now, is that New York City has on hand only 19,000 designated first doses, the mayor said with frustration. “We are expecting 107,000 more in the next few days, the weekly re-supply, but again, look at that number, that doesn’t even give us the beginning of what we need for a week. “

     Although vaccine supplies are quickly dwindling, New York City has turbo-charged its vaccination process by creating 24/7 mass vaccination sites at Citi Field and Yankee stadium, while simultaneously establishing a decentralized vaccination effort at smaller locations in local neighborhoods. 

   “Based on what we have seen, our projection that we can vaccinate half a million New Yorkers is an indication of our confidence on how quickly we can implement [shots] if we have what we need,” said the mayor, who pointed out that 628,831 New Yorkers have been vaccinated so far.

    “This is just a small beginning compared to what we could do if we had the supply,” said Mayor de Blasio, who was hopeful that President Joe Biden will provide some answers this week his vaccination plan, one that he insisted he had during the presidential debates. 

    The mayor also was optimistic that at least one more vaccine would be approved and ready to distribute soon to add to the supply.

   “The Johnson and Johnson vaccine could be just a matter of weeks away,” the mayor said. “That is going to be a gamer-changer as well.”

Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office