Another one-day pop-up vaccination clinic is open in Buffalo today for residents of the 14207 zip code. The Northwest Buffalo Community Center is distributing vaccines until 4 p.m. this afternoon.
The community center’s executive director, Larry Pernick, said he’s grateful for the hard work health care workers have put in to make today happen.
“If you see our gym right now, there's a bunch of health care workers working so efficiently that we are going to get through 500 shots with, like the mayor said, limited time,” said Pernick.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who spoke outside the clinic this morning, said the sooner residents get vaccinated, the sooner the community can return to normalcy.
“While we know that there are some that are hesitant about being vaccinated in our community, there are many that want to be vaccinated. And so we are working with both populations,” Brown said. "We need to make sure that vaccines are available to (those who want the vaccine), and those who are hesitant. We need to educate them that getting vaccinated is safe."
New York State says it will continue to open more pop-up COVID-19 vaccine sites as the state gets more supply from the federal government.
CEO of Urban Family Practice Dr. Raul Vazquez, who managed today’s site, said it’s important to promote health equity.
“Sometimes in these communities, they got to look like the people that the communities look like,” Vazquez said.
Vazquez said more comorbidities are being taken into consideration when discussing who can get vaccinated.
"And a lot of essential workers (are) still not being touched. So these areas here are a lot of chronic diseases, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, those are areas that were also touching during this vaccination,” Vazquez said.
The clinic started at 9 a.m. and runs until 4.p.m.
A new mass vaccination site in Niagara Falls also began today at The Conference and Events Center on 101 Old Falls Street. Appointments for that location are scheduled to continue every day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
