Storm wreaks havoc on race to vaccinate eligible New Yorkers against COVID-19

Monday's powerful snowstorm wreaked havoc on the race to vaccinate eligible New Yorkers across the lower Hudson Valley, Long Island and Manhattan against the coronavirus.

News 12 Staff

Feb 2, 2021, 12:52 AM

Updated 1,345 days ago

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Monday's powerful snowstorm wreaked havoc on the race to vaccinate eligible New Yorkers across the lower Hudson Valley, Long Island and Manhattan against the coronavirus.
The Westchester County Center has been ground zero of Westchester's fight against the coronavirus, but there was not a vaccine-seeking person in sight on Monday as appointments were called off until at least Wednesday morning.
Thousands of highly coveted appointments at five state-run mass vaccination sites were all postponed as a safety precaution.
As a result, some people claim they were told to show up at the Westchester County Center Sunday afternoon instead - and that's when things got a bit messy.
Eileen Sausto told News 12 her appointment was for 5 p.m. Sunday, but she says she got stuck waiting for hours outside on a long line after hundreds of people showed up with Monday time slots. She ultimately decided to drive back home to New Rochelle - unvaccinated.
News 12 checked out the state website, which only added to the confusion. It was still accepting reservations for appointments during the height of Monday's storm.
The governor's office is promising that every New Yorker whose appointment was canceled or scheduled by mistake will get a new one ASAP as they work to accommodate those who missed their Sunday appointment during the confusion.
By phone, News 12's Tara Rosenblum was able to ask the governor's team about concerns over spoilage - since the Pfizer vaccine can only last for five days in a refrigerator. While they didn't say where the doses are being stored in Westchester due to security concerns, they did say they had zero concerns about spoilage.