BUFFALO (WBEN) – On Tuesday of this week, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein announced that COVID vaccination appointments that were originally scheduled for later this week would have to be canceled due to a lack of supply.
“It’s kind of out of our hands,” said Poloncarz, noting that Erie County receives its supply from the state.
However, some local state legislators want that to change, saying counties and state representatives should play a more active role in vaccine distribution.
“100%,” said State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt when asked if counties should be more involved. “Counties and county departments of health, the infrastructure is already sort of there to help with this, and for whatever reason, (Governor Cuomo) chose not to include them.”
Ortt claims that he’s spoken with Democratic and Republican county executives telling him that the current system is ‘crazy’ because individual counties ‘are being boxed out and were never included in this plan.’
“The actual distribution in New York State has been extremely problematic,” said State Senator Pat Gallivan. “I’ve heard time and time again from constituents that it’s confusing, that it’s chaotic, that people don’t know what to do, that they can’t get through to get appointments, and it’s a shame that’s happening because it shouldn’t.”
Gallivan also claims that the state neglected the mass vaccination plans that counties were required to develop during the H1N1outbreak.
“When it comes to the distribution of the vaccine or mass vaccination, we have a model that could be followed,” Gallivan continued. “Following the H1N1 virus, all counties were required to come up with mass vaccination plans – Erie County was involved – they put together a plan. They practiced it with the flu vaccine that particular year, and all of these have been shelved in favor of the executive coming up with a brand new plan that’s simply not working.”
Both Ortt and Gallivan are also calling on the legislature to rescind Governor Cuomo’s extended powers, saying it’s now time for the legislature to once again reclaim its power in the decision making process.
"),e.close(),createDict=e.F;r--;)delete createDict[PROTOTYPE][enumBugKeys[r]];return createDict()};module.exports=Object.create||function(e,t){var r;return null!==e?(Empty[PROTOTYPE]=anObject(e),r=new Empty,Empty[PROTOTYPE]=null,r[IE_PROTO]=e):r=createDict(),void 0===t?r:dPs(r,t)};
}, {"219":219,"231":231,"233":233,"246":246,"254":254,"255":255}];
window.modules["254"] = [function(require,module,exports){var dP=require(244),anObject=require(219),getKeys=require(235);module.exports=require(229)?Object.defineProperties:function(e,r){anObject(e);for(var t,o=getKeys(r),c=o.length,i=0;c>i;)dP.f(e,t=o[i++],r[t]);return e};
}, {"219":219,"229":229,"235":235,"244":244}];
window.modules["255"] = [function(require,module,exports){var shared=require(242)("keys"),uid=require(252);module.exports=function(e){return shared[e]||(shared[e]=uid(e))};
}, {"242":242,"252":252}];
window.modules["256"] = [function(require,module,exports){var isObject=require(220);module.exports=function(t,e){if(!isObject(t))return t;var r,i;if(e&&"function"==typeof(r=t.toString)&&!isObject(i=r.call(t)))return i;if("function"==typeof(r=t.valueOf)&&!isObject(i=r.call(t)))return i;if(!e&&"function"==typeof(r=t.toString)&&!isObject(i=r.call(t)))return i;throw TypeError("Can't convert object to primitive value")};
}, {"220":220}];
window.modules["257"] = [function(require,module,exports){var pIE=require(237),createDesc=require(245),toIObject=require(222),toPrimitive=require(256),has=require(243),IE8_DOM_DEFINE=require(247),gOPD=Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor;exports.f=require(229)?gOPD:function(e,r){if(e=toIObject(e),r=toPrimitive(r,!0),IE8_DOM_DEFINE)try{return gOPD(e,r)}catch(e){}if(has(e,r))return createDesc(!pIE.f.call(e,r),e[r])};
}, {"222":222,"229":229,"237":237,"243":243,"245":245,"247":247,"256":256}];
window.modules["258"] = [function(require,module,exports){var toIObject=require(222),gOPN=require(259).f,toString={}.toString,windowNames="object"==typeof window&&window&&Object.getOwnPropertyNames?Object.getOwnPropertyNames(window):[],getWindowNames=function(e){try{return gOPN(e)}catch(e){return windowNames.slice()}};module.exports.f=function(e){return windowNames&&"[object Window]"==toString.call(e)?getWindowNames(e):gOPN(toIObject(e))};
}, {"222":222,"259":259}];
window.modules["259"] = [function(require,module,exports){var $keys=require(260),hiddenKeys=require(233).concat("length","prototype");exports.f=Object.getOwnPropertyNames||function(e){return $keys(e,hiddenKeys)};
}, {"233":233,"260":260}];
window.modules["260"] = [function(require,module,exports){var has=require(243),toIObject=require(222),arrayIndexOf=require(221)(!1),IE_PROTO=require(255)("IE_PROTO");module.exports=function(r,e){var a,t=toIObject(r),u=0,O=[];for(a in t)a!=IE_PROTO&&has(t,a)&&O.push(a);for(;e.length>u;)has(t,a=e[u++])&&(~arrayIndexOf(O,a)||O.push(a));return O};
}, {"221":221,"222":222,"243":243,"255":255}];
window.modules["261"] = [function(require,module,exports){var def=require(244).f,has=require(243),TAG=require(262)("toStringTag");module.exports=function(e,r,o){e&&!has(e=o?e:e.prototype,TAG)&&def(e,TAG,{configurable:!0,value:r})};
}, {"243":243,"244":244,"262":262}];
window.modules["262"] = [function(require,module,exports){var store=require(242)("wks"),uid=require(252),Symbol=require(232).Symbol,USE_SYMBOL="function"==typeof Symbol,$exports=module.exports=function(o){return store[o]||(store[o]=USE_SYMBOL&&Symbol[o]||(USE_SYMBOL?Symbol:uid)("Symbol."+o))};$exports.store=store;
}, {"232":232,"242":242,"252":252}];
window.modules["263"] = [function(require,module,exports){var ceil=Math.ceil,floor=Math.floor;module.exports=function(o){return isNaN(o=+o)?0:(o>0?floor:ceil)(o)};
}, {}];
window.modules["264"] = [function(require,module,exports){var defined=require(228);module.exports=function(e){return Object(defined(e))};
}, {"228":228}];
window.modules["265"] = [function(require,module,exports){var global=require(232),core=require(226),LIBRARY=require(250),wksExt=require(266),defineProperty=require(244).f;module.exports=function(e){var r=core.Symbol||(core.Symbol=LIBRARY?{}:global.Symbol||{});"_"==e.charAt(0)||e in r||defineProperty(r,e,{value:wksExt.f(e)})};
}, {"226":226,"232":232,"244":244,"250":250,"266":266}];
window.modules["266"] = [function(require,module,exports){exports.f=require(262);
}, {"262":262}];
window.modules["267"] = [function(require,module,exports){!function(){var r="ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/",t={rotl:function(r,t){return r<
