COVID19 Vaccine Update: Weather-Related Delay in Delivery of Vaccine Doses

The Tompkins County Health Department was notified by New York State today that our local allotment of 1,100 COVID-19 vaccine doses for this week will not be delivered due to weather and transportation delays.

Those who were registered to receive the vaccine this week at the Cayuga Health vaccination site will have their appointments carried over for a future Cayuga Health clinic, once vaccine is available. These groups include healthcare workers, grocery workers, P-12 school workers, and individuals age 65 and older with comorbidities living at Titus Towers and McGraw House.

The State-initiated pop-up clinic at Beverly J. Martin Elementary School scheduled for Friday, February 19 will still occur as planned. The State selected GIAC/BJM as a site for a pop-up clinic and is supplying 200 doses for this clinic that will be arriving in Tompkins County from vaccine allocations already in New York.

Pop-up sites are initiated by New York State and designed to serve the immediate local community and walkable neighborhood around the pop-up. Appointment slots for the 200 doses available at the pop-up clinic are being facilitated by GIAC.

“We are disappointed to not be receiving our local vaccine supply this week. Unfortunately, there are events out of our control, and we are not the only county affected by this delay. We cannot confirm when the clinic will be rescheduled for until we know we have vaccine. We recognize people had expectations to receive a vaccine this week and we will follow up with each person who was registered to make sure they are notified of this change and will be rescheduled for an appointment,” stated Frank Kruppa, Public Health Director.

“The Health Department makes every effort to wait for confirmation from the State for delivery of the vaccine doses prior to registering people for vaccine appointments to avoid this kind of situation. While we will not administer as much vaccine as we planned this week, we are still glad the pop-up is happening downtown. Every person we vaccinate makes our community safer and more protected from the virus,” Kruppa continued.

The next COVID-19 Community Town Hall will be held today, Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 5:00pm. Tune in via the Tompkins County You Tube page. Vaccine updates will be given, and questions answered related to status of disease, vaccine distribution, and COVID response.

For local updates and information, check the TCHD website.