Vaccine Distribution

New York State is using a phased approach to who can get the vaccines when. For details or to check when you're eligible, go to their COVID website.

Please be patient! We are booking appointments only at the point we know we have vaccine in hand so that you can be confident that we will have vaccine at your appointment. Additionally, we have well over 100,000 patients who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine, so it will take time to schedule and vaccinate everyone. 

Our number should display as the University of Rochester.

We encourage you to visit any other vaccine clinic run by federal, NY state or county governments, pharmacies and other providers if you are able to obtain an appointment. If you opt to go this way, please be sure and contact your primary care office to cancel your vaccine appointment, so we can fill the available slot and ensure we are not wasting valuable vaccine.

Visit the Finger Lakes Vaccine Hub for a list of locations offering the vaccine. Each site manages its own schedules and appointments.

We understand that strict eligibility criteria, combined with limited supply, can be a frustrating experience to those waiting to be vaccinated – especially those who have a condition that may trigger more serious complications from COVID. At this time, New York state is directing exactly who is eligible for a vaccine, and we are bound by those directives. The state has indicated that in the future, it may provide guidance on how to prioritize vaccines based on medical conditions or other factors. However this may take a while, as the CDC has identified 23 conditions that are or may be linked to serious complications and much analysis must be done to develop a fair process that takes into account the type and severity of the disease, along with age. In the meantime, we will move forward with the process as outlined by the state that allows us to quickly fill vaccine slots as supply allows.

Unfortunately, to make sure we fill up all slots as quickly as we can, we are unable to leave messages or receive call backs.  Your name will be marked as uncalled, and put back in the pool from which names are randomly selected.

We hope to offer this option in the next few weeks; stay tuned for details.

To avoid wasting any vaccine, we invite a small number of patients to be placed on our wait list for the day's vaccination clinic. People on the wait list commit to being available on short notice to come to our center for vaccination. You cannot sign up for the wait list or request a spot on the wait list. Instead, we randomly chose people and invite these individuals by phone.

Yes, we currently have two locations: Saunders Building Vaccination Center on the URMC campus and Manhattan Square Vaccination Center in the city of Rochester.  We are actively planning to open up a large vaccine center in Monroe County, as well as smaller centers linked to our affiliate locations in the region (Allegany, Livingston and Steuben county). 

Like the rest of the nation, demand currently outstrips the current available supply for our patient population.  We are hopeful that will change in coming months, as additional vaccines are approved and manufactured, and more effective distribution systems are created.  We are strongly advocating for more vaccine to be allocated to our region.