What to Know
- New Jersey's Monmouth County is postponing vaccine appointments from Wednesday to Friday after the winter weather in the Midwest and South has delayed vaccine shipments. The county is also postponing appointments scheduled for Thursday to Monday, Feb. 22.
- “The County has been notified by the New Jersey Department of Health that vaccines will not be delivered on time due to the inclement weather in the South and Midwest,” said Monmouth County Board of Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone.
- Meanwhile, some qualified New Yorkers were also left frustrated when it came to scheduling their COVID-19 vaccines.
New Jersey's Monmouth County is postponing vaccine appointments from Wednesday to Friday after the winter weather in the Midwest and South has delayed vaccine shipments. The county is also postponing appointments scheduled for Thursday to Monday, Feb. 22.
“The County has been notified by the New Jersey Department of Health that vaccines will not be delivered on time due to the inclement weather in the South and Midwest,” said Monmouth County Board of Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone Tuesday, adding Thursday that “the County has not gotten notification that the vaccines have even shipped yet and so we want to be proactive by moving these appointments now so that people can make alternative plans if necessary."
Commissioner Deputy Director Susan Kiley said that although the dates changed, the locations of where the vaccines will be administered have not.
“Vaccine appointments are now moved to Friday at the same time and location as previously scheduled at either Brookdale Community College or the Monmouth County Agricultural Building,” Kiley said.
For information on the COVID-19 vaccine, please visit the County’s COVID-19 vaccination webpage located at www.visitmonmouth.com/health. The county also urges individuals to not go to a vaccination clinic without a confirmed appointment given that there are no extra vaccines available.
Meanwhile, some qualified New Yorkers were also left frustrated when it came to scheduling their COVID-19 vaccines.
News
New Yorkers with certain underlying health conditions that leave them at higher risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 became eligible to sign up for vaccine appointments over the long weekend. Many were met with frustration, as state officials had warned would likely be the case.
The latest group to become eligible for shots in New York is made up of roughly three million people between the ages of 16 and 64. Those New Yorkers join an ever-expanding pool that now includes about 10 million people, fewer than 2 million of whom have received a first shot to date because of supply issues.
Qualifying New Yorkers could start signing up at state-run sites for appointments Sunday, a day before they were eligible to receive first shots, while those looking to get dosed at city-run sites got their first opportunity to book dates Monday.
On the state side, Cuomo said more than a quarter-million vaccination appointments were made on Day 1 of eligibility for the latest group -- the largest single-day registration total since the rollout began. New Yorkers were signing up at a rate of nearly 10,000 per hour over the course of the day, he noted.
Appointments at state-run sites are now booked through April 16 except for four locations: New York State Fair (booked through March 16); SUNY Potsdam (April 1); Rochester Dome (April 4) and SUNY Stony Brook (April 13).
"We're working hard to expand eligibility, make it easier for New Yorkers to get appointments and get shots in arms throughout the state, and the system is working," Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday. "250,000 appointments in a single day is a milestone, and we can do more—we just need more vaccine supply. We're seeing the system work -- more New Yorkers are finding out if they're eligible, making appointments and getting vaccinated. But we need more supply from the federal government to push our vaccination effort into overdrive."
Some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers -- from cancer patients to pregnant women to those with diabetes and weakened immune systems, among other pre-existing health conditions often found themselves in a tireless cycle of hitting "refresh" and "refresh" as they waited, frustrated, by their computers.
Others tried to make appointments at retail pharmacies, which started accepting those late last week. Paul Grandinetti of Shoreham, Long Island, went that route Sunday. He thought he hit the jackpot when he was able to make an appointment at a local Walgreens. But a few hours later, he was told he wasn't eligible for the vaccine at the pharmacy even though he's in the state's new eligible group.
That's because Grandinetti is 63 years old -- and pharmacies are only vaccinating people 65 and older. For now, people like Grandinetti can only book appointments at state- and city-run vaccination sites.
