Facing a limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses and what they say is a disjointed system for securing appointments, some New York residents are planning to travel hundreds of miles across the state to get a shot.
Maura Laverty, a 66-year-old nurse from New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City, said she is preparing for a road trip after nabbing an appointment in a snow-covered college town near the Canadian border.
She said she spent hours searching for a spot at locally run facilities near her in Westchester County but was unsuccessful. She then turned to a state-run web portal that lets any eligible New York state resident book appointments at 13 mass distribution hubs run by the state government.
The Jacob. K. Javits Convention Center, a state-run hub in Manhattan, was her first choice, but the only available slots were at a location in Potsdam in St. Lawrence County.
“Searching was an exercise in futility, so I’m going to make a nice little getaway,” said Ms. Laverty, who decided she would work remotely from a vacation rental for a few days while she got the jab.