Vaccine allotments frustrate Ryan
Ulster exec says state not sending enough; Dutchess County reports 7 additional deaths
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan expressed anger and frustration Monday over the county’s continued small allotment of COVID-19 vaccine doses from the state at a time when New York has greatly expanded eligibility for the shots.
“We are in a situation right now that ... is absolutely outrageous and absolutely unacceptable,” Ryan said in a phone interview.
The state, which supplies counties with their weekly allotments of vaccine doses, has expanded the inoculation-eligible group several times, most recently to include people who have certain health conditions known as “comorbidities.” Ryan said the result is about 120,000 of Ulster County’s nearly 180,000 residents are now eligible to be vaccinated,
but through last week, only about 12,000 vaccine doses had reached the county.
Ryan said the county Department of Health expects to receive only 700 doses from the state this week, but that an unspecified additional number will go directly to such places as pharmacies. The executive said he expects to have a better handle on the total on Tuesday.
But given the number of eligible vaccine recipients, the weekly outlay for Ulster
County should be about 3,000 doses, Ryan said.
He said state-run vaccination sites are getting “10 times” more doses than counties receive, cutting into the counties’ shares.
The nearest state-run sites to the Kingston area are in Westchester County and Albany. Ryan on Monday suggested adding such a site in Ulster County, perhaps at Kingston High School’s Kate Walton Field House, where the county operates a vaccination center.
Last Thursday, Ulster County announced a new color-coded priority system for vaccinations that aims to give residents a better idea of “where they are in line” to get a shot, Ryan said at the time.
The categories break down as follows.
• Red: Persons over age 75 with a qualifying health condition, and essential workers in the state’s 1B eligibility group with an underlying condition. Based on the current supply, vaccinations for this group would be complete by the end of April.
• Orange: Persons between ages 65 and 74 with an underlying health condition, and essential workers without an underlying health condition. Estimated completion of this group’s vaccinations: End of June.
• Yellow: Adults of all ages with a qualifying health condition, and persons 65 and older without a qualifying health condition. Estimated completion of this group’s vaccinations: End of October.
• Green: Any priority group as directed by the state Department of Health. Estimated completion of this group’s vaccinations: To be determined.
By the numbers
Ulster County did not provide updated data about COVID cases and deaths on
Monday, which was Presidents Day. On Sunday, Ulster reported on its online dashboard of COVID data that there were 1,878 active cases of the illness in the county, down from 2,014 the previous day and the pandemic high of 2,622 reported just two weeks ago.
Ulster County has had 10,258 confirmed cases of COVID since the local outbreak began last March, 8,156 recoveries and 224 deaths, according to the data posted Sunday.
Dutchess County on Monday reported an additional seven deaths related to COVID-19.
On its online dashboard of coronavirus information, Dutchess said 395 residents with COVID had died since the local outbreak began. On Sunday, the reported toll was 388.
Dutchess County on Monday also reported 1,146 active cases of COVID-19, a jump of 63 from the day before, along with 56 additional recoveries, for a total of 15,296.
Dutchess has had 20,837 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since last March.