AARP New York survey: 44% of members surveyed successful at getting COVID-19 appointment

AARP New York says nearly 44% of members surveyed successfully signed up for a COVID-19 shot.

News 12 Staff

Feb 20, 2021, 7:05 PM

Updated 1,329 days ago

Share:

AARP New York says nearly 44% of members surveyed successfully signed up for a COVID-19 shot.
That signifies progress from less than 10% last month, but problems are persisting.
"The government site just keeps saying 'None available,'" says Mary-Ellen Smith, of Port Chester. “I just said to my husband the other day, ‘I should get paid for the amount of time I sit here and have to do this.’"
Smith can see Greenwich, Connecticut from her backyard, where she says her friends have already received their vaccines “all within a couple of days.”
“We're sitting here weeks on end and we can't even get an appointment," she said.
So what is the main issues preventing members from getting vaccines?
AARP says some appointments are too far for people to travel to. Westchester County Executive George Latimer says some seniors have trouble using computers to make an appointment. Then there’s the problem of supply and demand.
"If there aren't guaranteed vaccines, then appointments cannot be set up," said Latimer.
So far, 121,000 people with a Westchester County ZIP code have received a first dose, County Executive George Latimer says.
News 12 is learning that some appointments are being canceled at Mount Sinai Health System. News 12 obtained an email that Mount Sinai sent out recently, saying that it received no new supplies of first-dose vaccines this week and have canceled all patient first-dose appointments except at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island.
The hospital network says, "The expansion of city and state vaccination sites has put pressure on continued supplies to hospitals."