Onondaga County is entering week 4 of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts, and plans to vaccinate 5,000-6,000 people this week. A point of distribution or “pod” is open at the Oncenter War Memorial to facilitate the vaccination of the first round of state-designated groups.
County Executive Ryan McMahon said their operations are prepared to scale up to vaccinate more people. However, the supply at this point is unable to keep up.
“This is probably the most important work I will ever do as your County Executive," said McMahon. "I want to vaccinate 467,000 people, and I want to do it yesterday. There’s not 467,000 doses of vaccine.”
The amount of vaccine doses getting sent to Onondaga County each week fluctuates. McMahon said the county is ready to adjust staffing and space as necessary.
“When we know how much vaccine we have available, and the state says ‘We’ll send you this amount,’ we’ll step up and meet that challenge. Whether it’s one pod, two pods or three pods,” said McMahon.
Nursing home vaccinations are also well underway in the county, with over 2,000 residents vaccinated so far. But McMahon acknowledged that the federal program is not moving as quickly as expected. He’s offered for the county to take over the remaining senior living facilities.
“Most of our nursing homes have received the first dose," said McMahon. "It’s our assisted living facilities who some are still waiting to be scheduled through the pharmacies. If the state can get the vaccine from these pharmacies, they can do it themselves or they can have us do it.”
McMahon said they are waiting on an answer from the state. Around a quarter of Onondaga County’s hospitalizations and half of its COVID-19 fatalities come from senior living facilities.
