January 3, 2021
Details scarce on WNY's Covid-19 vaccination plan as U.S. falls behind goals
More than 203,000 front-line workers and nursing home residents across New York have received one of two Covid-19 vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to immunize the state’s 19.4 million residents.
But more than two weeks after the vaccine became available, the specifics of who will immunize the rest of the population, and how, remain up in the air pending a series of reports expected this week from 10 regional, state-convened task forces.
In Western New York, that task force – or “vaccine hub,” as the state has dubbed it – is headed by representatives from Catholic Health, Erie County Medical Center and the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. It is charged with developing a plan for immunizing the region’s 1.3 million residents. That plan, which was due to the state Department of Health on Friday, will likely include strategies such as pop-up vaccination sites, partnerships with large private employers and new call centers dedicated to scheduling vaccine appointments.
It could still be months until such measures are needed, however. The task force’s report comes amid growing state and national fury over vaccination delays. While the federal government had expected to report 20 million vaccinations by the end of the year, only 2.8 million people had been immunized as of Wednesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – though the agency’s data can lag by up to three days.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
The latest map and statistics: Covid-19 statistics from state and county departments of health, as well as new data from The New York Times' national Covid-19 tracking project. Read more
Cuomo won't jump Covid-19 vaccine line; WNY's positivity inches upward: The day after nine people died of Covid-19 in Erie County, the fourth-highest total of any county in the state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he will not get the vaccine until it "is available for my group in Black, Hispanic and poor communities around the state." Read more
Dr. Luis A. Valenzuela, 83, research work helped create PSA test: The center of Valenzuela's life was his wife of 56 years, June. After she died Dec. 6 of Covid-19, Valenzuela, who was also diagnosed with the disease in late November, struggled to remain interested in life. He was hospitalized for five days in Erie County Medical Center and, after his release, died Dec. 23 in the Grand Island home they had shared. Read more
Hit hard by pandemic, Canalside attractions seek help: The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and the Explore & More Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Children's Museum, which are running out of money because of the pandemic, are looking for government or philanthropic aid. Read more
Pandemic schooling inspires free online tutoring for kids: An Amherst teenager came up with the idea of using high school students to offer free online tutoring for kids from kindergarten through eighth grade. Read more
Tyler Kroft's wife says he doesn't have Covid-19, cites false positive: The Bills announced Saturday that tight end Tyler Kroft tested posted for Covid-19 and had been placed on the league's reserve/Covid-19 list, but his wife, Lexi, took to Twitter on Sunday morning to say that her husband had a false positive that the league released "to the world." Read more
The good, the bad and the pandemic of 2020: The Covid-19 pandemic even took its toll on Western New York waterways, writes Bill Hilts Jr. Read more
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