Mayor de Blasio says 2nd doses of vaccines in reserve should be given as 1st doses

Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on the federal government to allow the city to give out second doses of the coronavirus vaccine to those in need of a first dose.

News 12 Staff

Jan 20, 2021, 6:43 PM

Updated 1,362 days ago

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Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on the federal government to allow the city to give out second doses of the coronavirus vaccine to those in need of a first dose.
The mayor says the city has already had to reschedule 23,000 vaccine appointments, and they can catch up on giving second doses in the days ahead.
“We have 65,000 doses sitting on a shelf,” de Blasio says. “My belief is that especially with the new administration, you’re going to see some speeding up of supply.”
He says that the city will make adjustments if vaccines take longer to be distributed, but that there is a huge supply sitting there and people are unable to get their first appointment.
De Blasio also says that a supply of 103,400 doses from Moderna were delayed.
They were supposed to be delivered yesterday.
The mayor and Dr. Dave Chokshi say the delay had nothing to do with a lot of vaccines in California that were associated with an allergic reaction or anything regarding the quality.
They say it was a logistical issue.
De Blasio says he hopes to get more guidance from the federal government in the coming days about how quickly production will be ramped up.