New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that 60 percent of hospital workers on Long Island have received the COVID-19 vaccine, while statewide, a total of 60.8 percent of medical professionals have been vaccinated.
Cuomo also made note that vaccination performance is uneven by region, with Long Island hospitals having used 78 percent of the doses allocated to them, with only New York City (60 percent), Finger Lakes (73 percent), and the mid-Hudson (76 percent) administering fewer.
On Long Island, 13.4 percent of healthcare workers have already declined a vaccine, Cuomo noted, one of the lower rates in the state.
In total, 74 percent of the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine allocated to New York have been administered to healthcare workers, with all nursing home residents and employees expected to be vaccinated by the end of the weekend.
To reach critical mass, or “herd immunity,” Cuomo reminded the public that it will require between 70 percent and 90 percent to receive the vaccine, including the healthcare workers.
“There’s a great variance by region of healthcare staff that has been vaccinated,” he said. “There are highs and lows in the state, but no one wants to go to a hospital and be vaccinated by a nurse with COVID, so we have to do a better job when it comes to this.”
On Long Island, the top-performing hospitals each used 100 percent of the first doses administered to them in the first three weeks of the program:
- South Oaks Hospital;
- Glen Cove Hospital;
- Pilgrim Psychiatric Center;
- Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital;
- Peconic Bay Medical Center;
- Plainview Hospital;
- Nassau County Department of Health;
- Mather Hospital;
- Long Island Community Hospital;
- Stony Brook Southampton Hospital;
- Huntington Hospital;
- St. Francis Hospital;
- Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center;
- NuHealth;
- Mount Sinai South Nassau;
- South Shore University Hospital;
- Stony Brook University Hospital;
- North Shore University Hospital.
Other hospitals on Long Island have not performed as well:
- Charles Evans Center in Bethpage: 63 percent;
- Mercy Medical Center: 71 percent;
- St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center: 81 percent;
- St. Jopseh Hospital: 90 percent;
- NYU Winthrop Hospital: 95 percent.
“The motto here in New York is that ‘life is in the doing,’” Cuomo stated. “We understand the concept, now we just have to get the needle in the arm.”
Long Island hospitals with the highest percentage of employees vaccinated:
- University Hospital - Stony Brook Southampton Hospital: 81.8 percent;
- NYU Winthrop Hospital: 80.1 percent;
- Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center: 77.7 percent;
- University Hospital - Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital: 70 percent;
- Mount Sinai South Nassau: 65.3 percent;
- University Hospital: 62.2 percent;
- St. Joseph Hospital: 58.3 percent;
- Nassau University Medical Center: 56 percent;
- Huntington Hospital: 55.6 percent;
- Plainview Hospital: 55.4 percent.
The hospitals on Long Island with the lowest percentage of employees vaccinated:
- St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center: 34.2 percent;
- St. Francis Hospital - Roslyn: 41 percent;
- St. Charles Hospital: 41.3 percent;
- Southside Hospital: 43.6 percent;
- Glen Cove Hospital: 44.6 percent;
- Mercy Medical Center: 45.2 percent;
- Syosset Hospital: 45.3 percent;
- North Shore University Hospital: 48.4 percent;
- Peconic Bay Medical Center: 49.3 percent.
Statewide, New York has administered a total of 827,715 - 731,285 first doses, 96,430 second doses - vaccines as the state ramps up its vaccination program after a slow initial rollout.
“There’s no such thing as a state number in this regard,” Cuomo said. “These numbers come to us from the facilities themselves, and these are numbers that are submitted under the penalty of perjury, so there are no discrepancies about the numbers.
“The point is that we have a lot of facilities and distributors, and we’re going to allocate doses to those doing it the quickest,” Cuomo continued. “We want to get the needles in the arm, and that’s what we want people to understand.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Brentwood and receive free news updates.