Scores of New York City pharmacies started offering on-site COVID-19 vaccines to seniors under a federal program this week – and elderly Big Apple residents were thrilled to take advantage.
“We’ve been trying [to get a vaccine appointment] for a while, but it has been very difficult,” Stephen Bruce, 89, said Friday after finally receiving his first dose of the two dose shot at a Duane Reade in Union Square, Manhattan.
Bruce said he found it “very easy” to make an appointment to get jabbed on the pharmacy’s website.
“I was very happy to get [the vaccine],” he said. “I’ve been waiting to get it.”
Though Bruce says he feels “100 percent safer” after getting inoculated, he’s “not going to throw caution to the wind.”
“I’m going to be very careful,” the restaurateur said.
The city Health Department announced Thursday that more than 250 pharmacies in the Big Apple will be offering the coronavirus vaccine to New Yorkers 65 and older as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.
This week, the 26,500 doses that were allocated to the pharmacy program boosted the city’s vaccine supply by 20 percent, officials said. Beginning next week, another 26,500 weekly doses will be added to the Big Apple’s vaccine supply for the program.
When 72-year-old Hardy Green snagged at appointment at the Duane Reade in Union Square he “couldn’t believe it.”
“I felt like, you know, I must be hallucinating. It just seems so unlikely,” said Green who got the vaccine at the pharmacy Friday.
Green said the whole process took about an hour.
“It was slow,” he said. “It’s not their fault. I don’t want to fault anybody. They are doing the best they can, but yes, it’s disorganized – it’s America.”
Marc Deric, 67, also got his first dose at the Duane Reade Friday and called it “a great relief” especially since he contracted the coronavirus last March.
“I’m delighted that I got the vaccine,” he said. “I know what it’s like to have COVID.”
There are now approximately 400 vaccine sites in the city available to eligible New Yorkers, including the additional sites at 188 Walgreens/Duane Reades, 75 Rite Aids and five Costco stores.