The General Counsel of the Office of Information Technology Services said the unauthorized schedule link was published this week.
The governor’s office said it was a legitimate, internal link falsely shared with the public and posted on social media, so people who had the link “ had an unfair advantage that others didn’t. ”
The link pertained not only to residents of Long Island, but New York State.
The following statement was released regarding accidental publishing:
“We noticed that an unpublished schedule link was shared on social media without permission this week, allowing some New Yorkers to make vaccination appointments for state-run sites that are currently not open and not meeting appointments in Binghamton, Buffalo, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Stony Brook and Utica Out of an abundance of caution, we referred this matter to the Inspector General As this pandemic has shown, equality and equal access are critical in spreading the vaccine, and ensuring that these principles are followed by all unauthorized appointments have been canceled – we are currently contacting anyone who used the unauthorized link to notify them of the situation. We will continue to protect all New Yorkers information and ensure equal access to the vaccine for all eligible persons Reminder: the and How to sign up for vaccinations at state-run sites is done through the Ministry of Health website. “
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Those who made arrangements through this link are told their arrangements are not valid, and officials say no one who signed up for these vaccines received one. The arrangements were for sites that had not yet been set up, an official said.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the site would go live Friday, and to give everyone a fair chance, the appointments were cleared and made available when they were due to be made available.
“It’s not the first time it has happened,” said Cuomo. There was a similar case in New York City. Someone announced that there would be a vaccination location and people came. ‘
The governor’s top assistant, Melissa DeRosa, said there is speculation that the site has been hacked or that someone has leaked the link.
“It’s going to be a bigger problem than that, when you have 7 million people and you have such a limited supply, it creates fear, fraud and black market,” said Cuomo. You will see people on the internet saying they will sell the vaccine. You will see some of the vials being sold. I would bet on them because they are valuable. You will see hacking, fraud and theft. It’s almost predictable, just as ugly and however unfortunate it is. “
He added that he has the state attorney general watching for such situations.
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Cuomo added that most appointments in the state were booked up to 14 weeks in advance, and most distributors are fully booked.
The state is hoping for more federal allocation.
“The federal government has triggered a crisis by increasing eligibility, but not by increasing supply,” said Cuomo.
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