BUFFALO, N.Y. — One week from Monday, people in New York State with a long list of conditions are going to be eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
But as we've found out these last few months, being eligible to get the shot and being able to actually receive it are two very different things, and officials are already bracing for the millions more people who will be trying to set up shots next Monday.
The state has established a list of comorbidities that would make one eligible for this next round of vaccines in New York starting on February 15.
Appointments can be made through a state website, which is expected to go live on Sunday, February 14.
"People will have to bring a doctor's letter or medical information that evidences that they have this comorbidity," said NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who also warned that people should not try and jump the line by lying.
"If a person commits fraud and said they have a comorbidity when they don't, or lies about their age, then they committed fraud and it needs to be enforced," Cuomo said. "Otherwise the system is a mockery."
But to even get to that stage, you'll need an appointment, and "mockery" is a term some have used to describe the state's vaccine rollout effort thus far.
In fact, the governor and his advisors spent some time at a Monday news conference trying to explain that it may be difficult for those seeking shots to get them.
"Everybody should go into this with their eyes wide open. It's going to be frustrating. There is going to be a crush," said Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa.
In that fashion, this next round of the vaccine rollout may be similarly dogged by the frustrations that have marred the process since the state began its vaccination program in December.
"There are people constantly, on a daily basis right now, hundreds of thousands of people on that website refreshing to try and get an appointment. That traffic is only going to increase," DeRosa said.
Whether you view it through the economic lens of supply and demand, or view it through simple math, it all comes out the same according to the governor.
"There are 10 million people chasing 300,000 vaccines," said Cuomo. "So if you think that just because you are eligible that you are going to get a vaccine next week, the answer is no," Cuomo said.
And while it may not be the case in other parts of the country the governor also indicated that in New York, which leads the nation in the number of COVID-19 deaths, it may take at least a year before everyone who wants a vaccine gets one.