Hosp runs out of vaccine as supply woes surface in city

Demand is outpacing supply in the city, where at least one hospital was forced to cancel appointments for coronavirus vaccinations because there aren’t enough doses to go around.

Vaccine seekers were being turned away from Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital on Thursday despite already having appointments to get the highly sought-after shot in the arm.

“Unfortunately, due to sudden changes in vaccine supply, we have been forced to cancel our existing public vaccination appointments from Friday, Jan. 15, through Tuesday, Jan. 19,” said hospital spokeswoman Lucia Lee.

“We will inform our patients when more vaccine supplies become available and reopen vaccination appointments for eligible patients. For anyone with appointments scheduled after Tuesday, we will provide updates as soon as we know more.”

A source at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx said the hospital has canceled recent vaccination appointments, but hasn’t offered staff a reason for doing so.

An official there said there are no supply issues.

The supply snafu was the latest in a string of vaccination setbacks, highlighted by confusion over eligibility, locations and an online registration portal more frustrating to use than the unemployment website overrun by seekers of jobless benefits.

Among the most frustrated are elderly New Yorkers, many of whom have had trouble getting a shot despite being Phase 1 eligible.

“To even get an appointment for the vaccine, New Yorkers must navigate multiple buggy and complex systems,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer tweeted.

“There are widespread reports of vaccine doses languishing in freezers rather than being deployed to the long list of people anxiously waiting their turn. Successful vaccine rollout is essential to our survival as a city. We need to resolve these tech issues ASAP and optimize vaccine access and distribution on the front and back ends.”

Stringer has slammed the “bewildering” complexity of the sign-up process, which has as many questions as the City Council has legislators — 51. He said the site is rife with technical issues.

Stringer, a mayoral contender, was forced into quarantine Thursday after having contact with Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who recently tested positive for COVID.

Stringer’s mother, Arlene Stringer-Cuevas, 86, died last year due to complications from the virus.

Earlier in the week, Gov. Cuomo announced that around 500 pharmacies statewide would begin offering the shots, and that another 700 have agreed to participate in the future.

But many of the pharmacies that were approved to administer the shots, and were listed on a state website have not received the vaccine.

That includes Fairview Pharmacy & Homecare Supply in Port Jefferson Station, where owner Michael Nastro said the botched rollout deluged his business with phone calls to make appointments for vaccines he did not have.

“It brought my business to its knees for probably three days,” the Suffolk County storeowner said.

Nastro said he felt like a security guard trying to hold back stampeding customers at a Black Friday sales event.

“The whole thing was just rolled out unbelievably bad,” Nastro said. “It was a disaster, an absolute disaster.”