The Town of West New York received 36 percent of the COVID-19 vaccines administered by the North Hudson Community Action Corporation, according to data released by CEO Joan Quigley following Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez exclaiming that his community had been shortchanged as a whole.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“We thank you for your outstanding cooperation with our policy of allotting vaccination slots to the municipalities we serve according to the population of each community. Under that arrangement, West New York, being the third largest town in our service area, receives 18 percent of the time slots available,” NHCAC CEO Joan Quigley said in an email to Hudson County mayors on Friday.
” … Therefore, when we saw and read media reports of West New York being short-changed on vaccines, our Chairman, Board members, senior management, and Vax teams were deeply offended by the inaccurate information presented to the public.”
One week ago, Rodriguez made call for more vaccine doses, claiming that only three precent of the West New York population had been inoculated, noting that “while amounts to this region have increased, allocations toward our community have not.”
The following day, county officials announced that 1,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were on their way to Hudson County and the majority of those doses would be used in North Hudson.
Additionally, 1,100 Pfizer vaccine doses being allocated to the Palisades Medical Center for residents over 75 years old – especially for those that live in West New York and North Bergen.
According to statistics provided by Quigley in her aforementioned email, West New York received 1,034 of the 2,851 vaccinations they were responsible for in the five North Hudson municipalities between December 22nd and March 1st – a little over 36 percent.
“Of course, these numbers do not include any vaccinations given directly by the municipal vaccination sites, which receive distinct allotments and keep their own records,” QUigley added.
“They also do not include counts for a limited number of vaccination slots occasionally set aside by special request for certain Hudson County groups, such as the Judiciary, Sheriff, and eligible persons in some other County agencies or bureaus.”
Quigley continued that the NHCAC tested 53,942 for the coronavirus at their Union City site on 36th Street, which closed recently, and nearly a quarter of those tests – 13,020 or 24 percent – were for West New York residents.
In a statement, Rodriguez appeared to stand by everything he said last week and offered praise to the Palisades Medical Center.
“I am thankful to all entities that have been working with our municipality thus far, including Palisades Medical Center, which has been integral in vaccinating our most vulnerable senior and high-risk population,” he said.
“At this point, my main concern continues to be the health and safety of all our residents, front line workers, and educators and I will continue fighting to get more vaccinations no matter the source.”
