NYC aims to vaccinate 1M people in January

New York City officials are planning to vaccinate 1 million residents this month, with the help of community organizations and other institutions, Politico reports.

The goal will require New York to drastically scale up its vaccine distribution, which, like the rest of the country, has seen a dramatically slower rollout than expected. According to the latest numbers from the city’s health department, 104,910 people have now received their first dose of the vaccine.

The city is trying to scale up distribution by relying on new sites for doling out doses, creating new vaccine hubs at locations such as school gyms and offering the vaccine at existing testing sites. Community organizations and clinics will receive help from nurses and pharmacists to run vaccine clinics, which should offer about 100,000 shots a week.

So far, health care workers and nursing home residents and staff have been on the priority list for receiving vaccine doses. They likely will still be prioritized for this month’s vaccination effort, though more groups may become eligible depending on how many people may decline to take the vaccine.