NYC, State Set Single-Day Coronavirus Vaccine Records

NEW YORK CITY — An influx of much-needed coronavirus vaccines helped New York City — and the state as a whole — set single-day records for shots going into arms.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said 61,971 vaccinations were performed on Thursday alone. He touted it as further evidence the city can perform a half million doses a week, if only it received enough supply.

"We keep building up and building up," he said Friday. "Let's get the supply we deserve so we can really move this forward and bring this city back strong. Five million people, five million New Yorkers need to be fully vaccinated by June — that's our goal and we can make that goal happen."

The record apparently was part of a larger accomplishment.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent out a release later Friday that declared the state as a whole performed 179,038 vaccinations in 24 hours — another record.

"Nearly 180,000 vaccinations in a single day is a major milestone in our ongoing efforts to ensure eligible New Yorkers, especially those in communities that were hit the hardest by COVID, have direct access to the vaccine," Cuomo said in a statement. "However, we're still in a footrace to keep the infection rate down and drive vaccinations way up."

Vaccine supplies in the city dried up nearly completely last week as severe winter weather delayed shipments of shots.

By the time the city began receiving shipments, it effectively received two weeks worth.

Demand for vaccines remains much higher than supply, and complaints about booked appointments abound across the city.

Bronx lawmakers recently sent Cuomo a letter asking him to boost supply at Yankee Stadium, a mass vaccination site intended only for borough residents, to be on par with its sister sites across the city.

"The neighborhoods surrounding the stadium continue to have some of the highest positivity rates in the borough and city," the lawmakers wrote. "Secondly, we would ask that we work together to look for a site to bring a similar FEMA/NYS mass vaccination site elsewhere in The Bronx."

Cuomo, in a release, said Yankee Stadium's allotment should be increased and another site in the northern Bronx added.

"The Department of Health will work with the New York City Department of Health to ensure this inequity is immediately addressed," the release states.