Exclusive: Orange County COVID Vaccine Site Ready To Go, But Organizers Say State Won't Send Them Any Doses
NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An Orange County vaccine site is sitting empty.
Organizers tell CBS2's Ali Bauman they're being overlooked by the state while thousands of eligible residents wait for doses.
The stations are prepped, the fridge is in place and the PPE is piling up.
All that's missing from the vaccination site in New Windsor are the vaccines.
"It's just a very frustrating experience," said Susan Satterly, president of the New Windsor Ambulance Corp.
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When the state health department put out the call for vaccinators in early January, New Windsor's Ambulance Corp and EMS went through the process of enrolling as a provider site.
"That's where the communication fell off from the state health department," said Kathleen Sweeney, assistant to the chief of New Windsor EMS.
Every week, they request doses from the health department and every week -- silence.
"I'm almost at the point to say, if you're not gonna allow us to do this, let us know," Sweeney said.
"They're not doing their jobs," town supervisor George Meyers said.
Nineteen nurses and paramedics are certified and on standby because if the state responds, they have to be ready.
"The nurses are getting aggravated, and they could go on and do second shifts somewhere else," Satterly said.
The organizers say they have 2,000 Orange County residents, all 75 and older, already on their waiting list.
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"The state has done us wrong here in this part of the valley. There's no state site. It's like the Hunger Games out there. This one has vaccine, that one has vaccine, we don't have vaccine," EMT Jack Glynn said.
Vaccine supply is allocated by regional population. The state health department says they've been managing a federal supply shortage for weeks while at the same time expanding eligibility.
"Now at this point they're adding so many more groups, they haven't taken care of the first group. That's the frustrating part," Satterly said.
The health department told CBS2 in part, "We look forward to being able to continue to expand access as the federal government increases the supply."