All NY jabbed by June: Blas

It will take until at least June to get every New Yorker who wants a COVID-19 inoculation a shot, Mayor de Blasio said Thursday.

“I think a healthy way to think about this is between now and June — just to give you an initial sense — we would like to reach the maximum number of New Yorkers,” de Blasio said during a press briefing.

The mayor acknowledged a real challenge will be persuading a segment of the population that will resist taking the vaccination, but hopes they will come around over time.

“Now, let’s be honest. We know that some New Yorkers, no matter what we say to them, will not choose to take the vaccine, but I do believe that number is going to be small,” de Blasio said. “I think the more people see it working, the more they see family and friends take it, and they see the positive impact on bringing down COVID – I think more and more people will want to.”

The mayor brushed off concerns that the rollout is too slow, saying it was more important to “get it right.”

“I think June is a good working assumption right this moment. That could obviously change as we go along. If we could do it faster, we would love to,” he said.

In the first three days, 5,200 doses were put into the arms of health-care workers in New York City: 73 on Monday, 1,562 Tuesday and 3,565 Wednesday.

Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said “everything is going smoothly” with the beginning of the momentous vaccination rollout. But he described the protocols to administer the vaccine as “complicated,” requiring ultra-cold storage and special handling.

“I expect the pace of vaccination will start to tick up in the coming days,” he said.

Dr. Mitch Katz, who heads the city’s Health + Hospitals agency, said doctors also want to be careful to avoid wasting any of the vaccine.

“It’s because they’re in multidose vials that can only be out of the freezer for short periods of time that especially at the beginning we have to be super careful,” said Katz.