NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, without referencing current NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, called out the city’s vaccination plan over a report that the number of vaccines given out was “throttled” on Saturday.
Yang called it “bureaucracy at its worst”:
Imagine being a healthcare worker at a vaccination site and vaccinating only 3 people all day – you did 70 the previous time – and then being told you’re not allowed to reach out to patients who want to be vaccinated. Delays are lethal. This is bureaucracy at its worst. https://t.co/gr4F2riOMb
— Andrew Yang???? (@AndrewYang) January 31, 2021
According to NY Mag, the city was trying to smooth out the supply after “thousands of cancellations” angered New Yorkers last week:
They weren’t alone. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which oversees the city’s immunization drive, throttled the number of available appointments to give out to people across 15 popup sites it manages this weekend, in an apparent attempt to balance out a supply shortage from last week that led to thousands of cancellations. Department representatives even forbade workers at vaccination sites from reaching out to community groups in order to give out more shots. But, workers say, the city bungled the overall planning, not telling them about the change in schedule, and ended up leaving potentially thousands of doses in freezers at a time when New Yorkers are scrambling to get appointments for shots.
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But Yang says as mayor he’s put in place a policy that encouraged the overbooking of appointments even if that led to frustration among New Yorkers:
If I were mayor there would be a clear directive – sites vaccinate as many people as possible each day, including getting people off the street if necessary. Maximize output. I’d rather overbook and frustrate people than lose time. Wasted time is costing lives at this point.
— Andrew Yang???? (@AndrewYang) January 31, 2021
Hey, overbooked flights at peak travel times works for the airlines and everyone loves that, so why not try that with a life-saving vaccine that people have to book in advance and schedule their entire day around? What could go wrong after thousands of people show up for appointments and are told, “sorry, not today!”?
This kind of failure makes me very angry and it should anger every New Yorker who has been waiting for a vaccine for either yourself or a loved one who is at elevated risk, or simply wants to feel like we are doing everything in our power to accelerate our recovery.
— Andrew Yang???? (@AndrewYang) January 31, 2021
And, actually, Yang’s second home where he spent much of 2020 is in New Paltz, NY, which is about 90 minutes from New York City so the idea that he’s on 24/7 standby for anything in the city is a laugh:
I’m a New Yorker who would show up for a vaccine day or night 24/7. I’m not alone. Knowing that capacity is going underutilized due to bureaucratic mismanagement is infuriating.
— Andrew Yang???? (@AndrewYang) January 31, 2021
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