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PHOTO PROVIDED BY ROCHESTER REGIONAL HEALTH
Becky Timmons gets her first dose of a vaccine trial for the novel coronavirus at Rochester General Hospital.
Coronavirus vaccinations are still underway for people in the 1a and 1b groups, but Monroe County Commissioner of Public Health Michael Mendoza said the current supply will be exhausted by Monday.
About 76,000 vaccine doses will be administered by next week within the Finger Lakes region, according to Dr. Nancy Bennett with the University of Rochester Medical Center.
“We don’t have the supply to reach out to everyone in these groups,” said Bennett, in a ZOOM conference Wednesday. “But we will going forward.”
Bennett said that the next round of doses after next week will depend on vaccine shipments.
Vaccine supply is up to the federal government and manufacturers, not the county, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said. So on a week-by-week basis they’re unsure how much vaccine will be distributed to the Finger Lakes region.
“We need to shift our focus here on the local level into what we can control to make sure that our capacity to administer the vaccine once it arrives meets the supply of vaccine once it gets here,” Bello said.
A regional vaccine taskforce is tackling some of the equity matters around getting the vaccine to everyday people.
Common Ground Health's Wade Norwood, who is part of the Finger Lakes COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, said the group’s first obstacle is navigating vaccine hesitancy and equitable distribution.
“Our work has been made more challenging by the changing approaches rolling down from the federal and the state level,” Norwood said.
Equity, he said, is the group’s ultimate goal when it comes to vaccine distribution. That includes reaching older adults who would need providers to bring the vaccine to them. The group is meeting on Thursday to go over plans on how to accomplish this and other goals.
Noelle Evans is a reporter for WXXI News, a media partner of CITY. She can be reached at [email protected]
About 76,000 vaccine doses will be administered by next week within the Finger Lakes region, according to Dr. Nancy Bennett with the University of Rochester Medical Center.
“We don’t have the supply to reach out to everyone in these groups,” said Bennett, in a ZOOM conference Wednesday. “But we will going forward.”
Bennett said that the next round of doses after next week will depend on vaccine shipments.
Vaccine supply is up to the federal government and manufacturers, not the county, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said. So on a week-by-week basis they’re unsure how much vaccine will be distributed to the Finger Lakes region.
“We need to shift our focus here on the local level into what we can control to make sure that our capacity to administer the vaccine once it arrives meets the supply of vaccine once it gets here,” Bello said.
A regional vaccine taskforce is tackling some of the equity matters around getting the vaccine to everyday people.
Common Ground Health's Wade Norwood, who is part of the Finger Lakes COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, said the group’s first obstacle is navigating vaccine hesitancy and equitable distribution.
“Our work has been made more challenging by the changing approaches rolling down from the federal and the state level,” Norwood said.
Equity, he said, is the group’s ultimate goal when it comes to vaccine distribution. That includes reaching older adults who would need providers to bring the vaccine to them. The group is meeting on Thursday to go over plans on how to accomplish this and other goals.
Noelle Evans is a reporter for WXXI News, a media partner of CITY. She can be reached at [email protected]
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