New York City could be giving a half million COVID-19 vaccinations a week — if it is able to get enough doses — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
"So far, we have done 650,000 vaccinations," de Blasio said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "That's the equivalent of the entire population of Portland, Oregon. That's the good news. But the bad news is we could be doing so much more."
De Blasio said he wants to open up 24-hour vaccination sites all over New York City, for example, but the city is not getting a clear message from the vaccine manufacturers about the availability of the drugs.
"I'm just hoping, and I believe in President [Joe] Biden," he said. "I believe he wants to move this process, but I'll tell you, it is going to take him using the Defense Production Act, demanding that a lot of pharmaceutical companies get into this together, breaking down those silos and doing something different if we're going to be able to do this."
De Blasio said the city has "100,000 second doses" sitting on the shelves that can't be used for weeks, and he wants Biden to order state governments to start allowing the second doses to be used.
"Even a first dose gives folks 50% protection," the mayor said. "Think about senior citizens. I was with a 97-year-old woman in Queens last week. And for her, she was scared to death of the coronavirus. And that first shot to her literally meant she was going to live. She was going to get to be with her family. Emotionally and medically, we got to get people that first shot, no matter what."
New York City's schools have reopened, he said, and while testing and other safety measures are being used, he wants to see teachers and school staff be vaccinated as soon as possible, but the vaccines are not available.
"I am hundreds of thousands of doses short for this week we're in now," de Blasio said. "We're the greatest country in the world. I feel that. We all feel that. But I'm certain there is more capacity to produce vaccines out there, but it's not happening unless the federal government takes it over aggressively."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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