Why 300 Doses of Vaccine Sat Unused in Freezers for 2 Weeks
Dr. Peter Meacher expected to receive just a small supply of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine to inoculate his staff at a network of clinics that he oversees in New York City. Instead, 600 doses arrived late last month, far more than he needed.For two weeks, more than half of the supply sat in freezers. At other clinics in the city, small numbers of unused doses have even been thrown out.It initially seemed that the main bottleneck would be scarcity of the vaccine. But in New York City, health experts said the problem was that officials have been slow to make use of vaccine doses already distributed. As of early Friday, only 167,949 of 489,325 doses had been administered — about 34 percent, which was lower than the rate across New York State, which is over 40 percent.
Elsewhere, governors are setting aside strict protocols because of mounting criticism over the pace of inoculations and significant demand. The Trump administration has begun urging states to open up access, even as public health officials worry that could bring more chaos to a complicated operation and increase the likelihood that vulnerable Americans will be skipped.
Some states, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, have already expanded eligibility for the vaccine. But in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has stuck to rigid guidelines that prioritize health care workers, and residents and staff of nursing homes and group The slow pace has touched off new tensions between Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. The two men, Democrats with a history of feuding, have frequently clashed over the response to the pandemic.
On Friday, the mayor again called on the state to open up eligibility to larger categories, including some essential workers and people over 75.
But the governor has so far not expanded eligibility beyond that first group, saying that it was important to first vaccinate as many of those people as possible. He recently signed an executive order threatening fines of up to $1 million for health care providers who violate his prioritization system.
City officials said it would be easier to speed things up when far more people were eligible.
“Come on, give us the freedom to vaccinate,” Mr. de Blasio said on Thursday, referring to the governor.
Mr. Cuomo has said that given the scarcity of doses, it makes sense to limit eligibility.
“We owe it to them ethically,” he said, adding that health care workers needed the protection the most so that they could care for others during an escalating second wave.
Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, urged states this week to not allow rigid prioritization lists to slow things down.
“There is no reason that states need to complete, say, vaccinating all health care providers before opening up vaccinations to older Americans or other especially vulnerable populations,” Mr. Azar said.homes.He said states should not “leave vaccines sitting in freezers.”
But that is exactly what has been happening in New York City. As a result, some community clinics, like those in the Callen-Lorde system, feel they are caught in the middle of a haphazardly planned vaccine rollout. While many vaccine doses have gone to hospitals, a substantial amount have gone to smaller, nonprofit community health networks that typically treat low-income and underserved people.
At first, the clinics in these networks were limited to vaccinating their own staff. But this week, as officials tried to clear the logjam, the clinics were tasked with trying to find other eligible health care workers they could vaccinate.
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