NYC to Miss 1 Million-Shot Goal, Delay Megasites Amid Shortage

Members of the National Guard assist people with making appointments for their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccination at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. New York plans to open pop-up sites statewide that could be used to test customers and workers in a push to reopen offices, restaurants and theaters, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday in his State of the State speech. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- New York City will delay opening vaccination megasites at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field as shortages leave the city unable to meet its goal of 1 million doses by the end of January.

The city has administered 628,831 doses so far, after receiving about 100,000 fewer last week than it had expected from the U.S. government. New York has about 19,000 designated first doses left and is expecting 107,000 more this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday at a briefing.

De Blasio said the city is equipped to vaccinate 500,000 people a week if it gets a supply increase. In the meantime, it’s rescheduling appointments, he said.

“We’re not going to be able to soar until we get more supply,” he said.

Jay Varma, de Blasio’s senior public health adviser, said the city is targeting the end of February or early March to receive a supply of the still unapproved one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which de Blasio called a “real game changer.”

The Citi Field site, at the Queens home of the New York Mets baseball team, was slated to open this week and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an eventual goal to vaccinate as many as 7,000 New Yorkers a day.