HUDSON, N.Y. (NEWS10)–The Columbia County Department of Health only gets so many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine each week. Jack Mabb is the Director for the County Health Department and said Thursday they do their utmost to use every last drop from their Moderna vaccine vials by collecting the last bit after the first ten doses are removed.

“We did a 110 (vaccinations) in our first pod, we actually got 100 doses but we got ten more out of it,” said Mabb. “Yesterday I think we got 19 more out of the vials that we used.”
Thursday essential workers lined up in the cold to check-in at Columbia Greene Community College for their prearranged appointment. Volunteers like Carmine Pierro were on hand to keep track of people coming in and showing them where to go next.
“They have to go online to register; it’s a state website. They get the date to be here, and when they show up, they check-in and register again, and then we run them through the process,” said Pierro a former alderman for the city of Hudson.

According to Pierro, that process takes about 45 minutes, including waiting a precautionary 15 min wait time after the shot and a 30 minutes wait for those who have allergies.
Columbia County gets their next round of vaccines early next week and the health department will email out links to signup for next Tuesday’s vaccination pod.