Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon is urging central New Yorkers to be patient as they wait for the coronavirus vaccine. He said all available appointments for the vaccine in Onondaga County are booked for the next week, whether it’s from the county or state run Points of Dispending (POD), or pharmacies.
"We are punching back,” McMahon said. “We are vaccinating. More people are eligible than we have supply.”
But he hints things could be changing as the federal government announced it would be pushing more doses of the vaccine to states.
“When they get that in a couple of weeks, our POD will be able to do more,” McMahon said. “We will open up an additional POD if we have to, to do more. Pharmacies will be able to do more. Primary care physicians will get the vaccine. This is coming, but we need the vaccine supply to really activate that additional infrastructure.”
McMahon also announced that seniors, who may not be tech savvy, can call 211 to get help signing up for the vaccine. The county has put aside some doses, especially for that high-risk group.
In his daily briefing Tuesday, McMahon said central New York is clearly headed in the right direction. He noted the seven-day infection average stands at 6.4%, down two percentage points from two weeks ago. He also announced five new deaths from COVID.
