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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that in the next three weeks, the federal government will be increasing the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine doses to states by more than 20 percent, and will be upping the allocation of doses directly to pharmacies by 10 percent, allowing for additional flexibility locally.
In response, Cuomo and the state’s health officials said that they would open the door to county executives, mayors, and local governments to determine if they wanted to vaccinate those particular parties.
“You have some local governments that believe firmly that their taxi drivers are an issue, or their Uber drivers should be vaccinated, while some want to focus on facilities for the developmentally disabled, and others want to focus on restaurant workers,” Cuomo said during an impromptu COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
“We have a limited supply, but I just got off the phone with the White House, and we’re getting more. So that means more for local governments and pharmacies,” he continued. “So now there’s additional flexibility, and I’m leaving it up to the local governments to make a determination about what fits their situation best.”
During the briefing, Cuomo made note that the new groups should not be prioritized over those previously eligible for the vaccine, including healthcare workers, nursing home residents and employees, first responders, teachers, anyone who is immunocompromised, and those over the age of 65.
“Some localities have already done a large percentage of their police, fire, and teachers, and they do have flexibility. There’s no one size fits all here,” he said. “We’re getting more (doses) so theoretically they’ll have additional supply to make those decisions, but that’s up to local governments to add to the 1B category if they think that makes sense.”
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