NEW YORK — New Yorkers who have gotten their first COVID-19 vaccination shots may face delays getting their second doses if Mayor Bill de Blasio gets his way.
He repeated calls Tuesday for the feds to authorize the city to start giving out supplies that had been reserved for second shots — vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna require two doses to be fully effective.
The mayor’s pleas came as the city is administering doses faster than it’s getting them following a rocky vaccination rollout from the federal government.
The city had fewer than 7,710 “first” doses and under 202,119 “second” doses on hand as of Tuesday morning, according to the city Health Department.
De Blasio wants to tap into the larger stockpile as the city awaits its next shipment of doses, saying, “I’d rather give more people some protection than fewer people full protection.”
He conceded Tuesday that would mean New Yorkers who have an appointment for a second dose could face delays.
“Even if we have to say to people, ‘Your second dose is going to be slightly delayed,’ it’s still better to get a first dose in as many people’s arms as possible to give them that 50% protection,” de Blasio said.
“Otherwise, what we’re left with is a situation where we can do very few vaccinations at all. We’re just stuck right now because we don’t have supply,” he added.
He cited a finding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that second doses of the vaccines are effective for up to six weeks after the first dose.
De Blasio also voiced confidence that the Biden administration would make good on promises to boost supplies, though he declined to share details about a Tuesday morning phone call he had with the White House.
Amid nationwide shortages of COVID-19 vaccines, the city is on track to fall short of de Blasio’s goal of administering 1 million doses by the end of the month.
