Vaccine clinic at GCC isn’t restricted to Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming residents

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 March 2021 at 8:27 am

BATAVIA – The mass vaccination clinic at Genesee Community College is targeted for Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties, but isn’t restricted to those counties.

The three rural counties wanted the clinic to be limited to the three counties, but the state Department of Health is making it available to whoever signs up.

The state has other vaccine clinics listed on its website that have residency restrictions for Albany, Brooklyn, Queens, Rochester and Buffalo.

Because the clinic in Batavia is open to people outside the three counties, local health officials are urging Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming residents to sign up right away this morning before all the appointments are gone. Click here to sign up.

The three counties lag behind the vaccination rates in the nine-county Finger Lakes Region and across the state. In the Finger Lakes the percentage of residents who have received at least one vaccine dose is 16.2 percent and 9.5 percent are fully vaccinated. The statewide averages are 15.6 percent with one dose and 8.4 percent fully vaccinated.

• In Orleans County, only 10.8 percent of the 40,612 residents have received at least one dose and 5.8 percent are fully vaccinated.

• In Genesee County, 14.7 percent of the 57,511 residents have received at least one dose and 8.7 percent are fully vaccinated.

• In Wyoming County, 13.2 percent of the 40,085 residents have had at least one dose and 8.0 percent have had both doses.

The neighboring metro areas in Erie and Monroe counties have higher vaccination rates.

• In Monroe County, 16.8 percent of the 742,474 residents have received at least the first dose of the vaccine and 9.9 percent have completed the vaccine series.

• In Erie County, 16.1 percent have received at least one dose and 9.7 percent are completed with the vaccine series, according to the data on the state’s Covid-19 vaccine tracker.