Good Question: Is there a residency requirement for COVID vaccine sites?

ROCHESTER N.Y.(WHEC)—Here’s a Good Question.about getting the vaccine.

A viewer wanted to know: Why are people from Niagara County getting their COVID vaccinations in Rochester at the Dome Arena instead of in Niagara County? Isn’t this taking away from the number of vaccinations available to Monroe County residents?

Fair point, and this goes both ways, we know people who couldn’t get spots at the Dome, and then drove to Syracuse or somewhere else to get shots.

To be clear, there’s no residency requirement at state vaccine sites.

A New York State Department of Health spokesperson told News10NBC:

"We allocate doses based on regional population, and our state-run mass vaccination sites are spread across the state to ensure everyone has access to them. These sites’ goal is to vaccinate the region they are in, and of the more than 1 million appointments that have been made at state-run sites, roughly 75% are for New Yorkers from the site’s region. At the end of the day, however, our goal is to get shots in arms as quickly and efficiently as possible – if New Yorkers in one area are not booking all available appointments, and someone is willing to travel to get a shot, that only reflects the woefully inadequate supply of vaccines we received from the Trump Administration. Thankfully, we have already begun to see some progress under the biden administration – less than a month after he was sworn in as president."

Again; there is no residency qualification for state run-sites. But, there are others, like Yankee Stadium and pop-up sites that are only for certain residents, as those target local populations.

We have one coming to the former Kodak Hawkeye parking lot that will be just for people living in Rochester to start next month.

_____

Watch previous Good Question segments here. If you have a question you’d like answered, email GoodQuestion@whec.com.