Delays, shortages plague COVID vaccine rollout in Queens

Borough President Donovan Richards and Lt. Gov.  Kathy Hochul visited the Aqueduct Racetrack vaccination site. Photos via Queens Borough President/Twitter

By Rachel Vick and David Brand

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. 

Just over a month after a Queens nurse became the first person in the country to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, a dose shortage has forced New York City to cancel appointments at sites in the borough.

The first affected — the Hillcrest High School “mass vaccine site” that opened Jan. 10. The city cancelled new appointments there Wednesday. Across the city, more than 22,000 vaccination appointments are on hold until at least Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday. 

“For everyone who saw an appointment rescheduled, I feel for you,” he said.

Amid the shortage, New York state opened a new site at the Aqueduct Racetrack.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul visited South Ozone Park to tour the facility with Borough President Donovan Richards Thursday. She praised the workers at the Aqueduct and called the facility a “10 out of 10” in an interview with the Eagle Thursday afternoon

“It was an extraordinary operation,” Hochul said. “This is a very welcoming facility.”

But, she added, “Gov. Cuomo and I are not satisfied whatsoever with the allocation that we are receiving. It comes nowhere near the need.” 

Health care workers at the race track are administering about 500 doses a day, but could easily handle more, she said.

“Aqueduct could triple that. We’re ready to do it, but it’s the shortage of supply from the federal government,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to tell someone we have to reschedule you. That’s the challenge we’re facing, and I know people are getting really frustrated.”

Further frustrating New Yorkers: constant bickering between de Blasio and Cuomo over safety protocols and even vaccine distribution.

Hochul said the city and state could work better together, but she insisted the delays are not an issue of miscommunication but a shortage at the federal level. 

“We can always improve, but there’s regular communication between the Departments of Health,” she said. “It’s not just New York City. We’re dealing with this all over the state of New York.”

The COVID-19 seven-day positivity rate has hovered around 9 percent in New York City since Jan. 6, but is much higher in parts of Queens. Neighborhoods surrounding Aqueduct, like Ozone Park, South Ozone Park and Richmond Hill, have seven-day positivity rates of at least 15 percent, Health Department data shows.

As COVID rates surge and vaccine rollout stalls, New Yorkers are starting to “lose faith in the system,” said State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr.

“It’s frustrating more so for older constituents who got appointment dates that were then rescheduled or cancelled,” he said, adding that he worries the government has “lost credibility.”