Half-million Erie County residents now qualify for vaccine. But can they get it?

It means another 10 million New Yorkers eligible for the vaccine are vying for a supply of 300,000 doses per week.

In Erie County, that could mean that more than half the population is now eligible for the vaccine, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.

Counties are expected to receive more doses from the state to provide to people in the new eligibility category.

How many? How often? Who will decide who gets them and how will they be distributed?

All of that is being worked out now, Poloncarz told reporters in a news briefing Tuesday afternoon.

"We're basically going to be putting in place that process over the next few days, and then working with these health care providers to ensure that the individuals who are most at risk are getting the vaccine. It's a complicated process," he said.

Even before Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the inclusion of people with comorbidities for vaccines, Erie County health officials had estimated that it would take until at least May or June to fully vaccinate everyone who qualified at that point – mostly health care workers, nursing home staff and residents, first responders, public transportation workers, educators, taxi drivers and some other categories of essential workers. 

Without a sudden, significant increase in the number of vaccine doses available, getting everyone who will be eligible as of Monday vaccinated will take much longer, Poloncarz said.

"There may be upwards of a half a million people that qualify in Erie County," Poloncarz said.

Erie County isn't in a position to open up a mass vaccination site for people who fall into that category, Poloncarz said. They don't expect to get enough extra doses to make that happen. People who qualify can try to sign up for the vaccine through the state vaccine website, but as anyone who has already tried knows, there are few appointments available locally, and when they do open up, they are snatched up immediately. In the meantime, the county is still rescheduling vaccinations for people whose appointments were canceled when the health department ran out of vaccines last month.

Now, the county is working with the state on guidance on how best to get the vaccines to the people in the comorbidity category who need it the most.

"If you read the guidelines, a lot of people will qualify as a result of this expanded category," Poloncarz said. "Anybody with hypertension qualifies. So if you've got high blood pressure, you qualify. Now, should we be putting it in the arm of a 30-year-old who otherwise has no underlying conditions except for high blood pressure, or ... is it best to put it in the arm of someone who has multiple comorbidities, so to speak, and maybe a senior?" 

The county plans on working directly with health care providers, including hospitals and federally qualified health care centers, on figuring out the best ways to get the vaccines to their patients.

For instance, Poloncarz said, patients in the renal care program at Erie County Medical Center would all qualify. The county could work directly with doctors in that program to vaccinate everyone in that program.

That is a departure from the previous month, when vaccines were first provided to health care facilities for their workers, but none later for patients. Most vaccines have been administered at county-run sites at Erie Community College campuses and the University at Buffalo South Campus or through some local pharmacies.

In the meantime, New York learned that the federal supply of coronavirus vaccines will increase an additional 5% over the next three weeks, Cuomo said Tuesday.

"The 5% increase doesn't sound like much, but that's on top of the first announcement, which was a 16% increase, then the second announcement of 5%, and so this is a third announcement of 5%. So, for the past three weeks, it has been relatively significant.

"Again, not proportionate to the need, but that has been helpful."

The state has done 2.5 million vaccinations, which Cuomo said translated to about 10% of New Yorkers. The overall supply will increase if and when the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been submitted for emergency authorization, is available.

As of Tuesday, Poloncarz said, 9% of Erie County's residents had received at least their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 3% had received both.

And the county continues to see the positivity rate go down. The seven-day positivity rate was 4.9% as of Sunday, Poloncarz said.

Other developments:

• The Erie County Health Department has opened up the criteria for free testing to virtually all county residents. In the fall, free testing was limited to people who had Covid-19 symptoms or had close contact with someone who had tested positive. The county health lab recently acquired new equipment that has expanded their testing capability. To schedule an appointment for a free Covid-19 test – either rapid or PCR – call 716-858-2929. Rapid test results come back in about 15 minutes. Results for PCR tests are done in one to three business days, officials said.

• Spread of Covid-19 through sports continues to be a concern. Poloncarz said that there are nine youth sports teams that have been placed on "pause" because of Covid-19. They include four hockey teams: Williamsville East High School, Depew High School, Orchard Park High School and the West Seneca Wings Youth Hockey Association 16U Team. Also, bowling teams have had positive cases: Grand Island High School, Lancaster High School and Hamburg High School.

News Staff Reporter Keith McShea contributed to this article.