The general counsel for the Office of Information Technology Services said the unauthorized programming link was released this week.
The governor’s office said it was a legitimate internal link that was erroneously shared with the public and posted on social media, so people who had the link “had an unfair advantage over others. no”.
The link not only affected Long Island residents, but also New York State as a whole.
The following statement was issued regarding the accidental publication:
“It has struck us that this week an unpublished unauthorized programming link was shared on social media, which allowed some New Yorkers to arrange vaccines for state-operated sites that are not currently open and that do not They took appointments in Binghamton, Buffalo, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Stony Brook and Utica, and as a precaution we referred the matter to the Inspector General, and as this pandemic has shown, equity and equal access are key to distributing the vaccine. and to ensure that these principles are followed without authorization.the appointments have been canceled: we are currently contacting anyone who has used the unauthorized link to inform them of the situation.We will continue to protect the information of all New Yorkers and ensure equal access to the vaccine for all eligible.As a reminder, the only way to register for vaccines at state-operated sites is through the Department’s Am I Eligible website. t of Health “.
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Those who had made appointments with this link are informed that the appointments are invalid and officials say no one who signed up for these vaccines received any. Appointments were for places that had not yet been set, an official said.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the site was due to start operating on Friday and, to give everyone a good shot at the sites, appointments were cleared and made available at the time they were supposed to be available.
“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Cuomo said. “There was a similar case in New York City. Someone sent a notification that there would be a vaccination site and people moved to the site.”
The governor’s chief aide, Melissa DeRosa, said there is speculation that the site was hacked or that someone leaked the link.
“It will be a bigger problem than unfortunately when you have 7 million people and you have such a limited supply, it creates anxiety, fraud, black market,” Cuomo said. “You’ll see people on the internet saying they’ll sell the vaccine. You’ll see some vials sold. I’d bet they’re valuable. You’ll see piracy, fraud, theft. It’s almost predictable, as ugly and unfortunate as it is.”
He added that he has the state attorney general monitoring these situations.
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Cuomo added that most appointments in the state were booked 14 weeks in advance and that most distributors are fully booked.
The state hopes to get more federal allocations.
“The federal government created a crisis by increasing eligibility, but not by increasing supply,” Cuomo said.
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