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Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that as part of the state’s LTCF program administration, all nursing home residents have been offered the COVID-19 vaccine, with 72 percent accepting the vaccine as of Thursday, Jan. 28.
Cuomo said that the plan includes skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, continuing care communities, low-income housing for seniors, care facilities for those with developmental disabilities, and veteran’s homes.
“Some people simply don’t want to receive the vaccine,” Cuomo said during his latest COVID-19 briefing. “We’re seeing that across all subgroups, but we’re giving them the option.
“Others may change their mind … some may not be ready yet .. and others may say they want to watch others go first to see what happens. That’s up to them.”
Cuomo noted that the state is also pushing to have workers at those long term care facilities vaccinated to ensure there are no staff shortages.
Staff at those facilities have been vaccinated in thirds to ensure that if anything went wrong with the initial rollout of the vaccine there would be back up on hand ready to step in.
“The staff in these nursing homes are being vaccinated in tranches, so we’re going one-third, one-third, one-third,” Cuomo said. “We didn’t want to vaccinate the entire staff in case there was a reaction to the vaccine.”
In the Hudson Valley, skilled nursing homes have vaccinated 74 percent of its residents, with 44 percent of staff vaccinated, the fourth-fewest in the state:
- North Country: 84 percent of resident population vaccinated - 50 percent of staff population vaccinated;
- Southern Tier: 80 percent - 42 percent;
- Western New York: 76 percent - 47 percent;
- Central New York: 76 percent - 51 percent;
- Capital Region: 82 percent - 50 percent;
- Finger Lakes: 80 percent - 49 percent;
- Mid-Hudson: 74 percent - 44 percent;
- Mohawk Valley: 73 percent - 43 percent;
- Long Island: 72 percent - 40 percent;
- New York City: 65 percent - 40 percent;
- Statewide: 72 percent - 44 percent.
The total allocation of vaccinations distributed and administered each region in New York, by region, according to the state:
- Central New York: 95,265 doses received - 93,060 doses administered - 98 percent;
- Western New York: 130,160 - 112,436 - 86 percent;
- Finger Lakes: 118,250 - 96,437 - 82 percent;
- Capital Region: 117,640 - 95,611 - 81 percent;
- Long Island: 229,520 - 179,303 - 78 percent;
- Southern Tier: 52,300 - 40,129 - 77 percent;
- New York City: 842,025 - 621,958 - 74 percent;
- North Country: 50,945 - 36,269 - 71 percent;
- Mid-Hudson: 179,475 - 126,191 - 70 percent;
- Mohawk Valley: 53,070 - 31,835 - 60 percent;
Cuomo said that he was surprised by the variance in the number of residents and staffers accepting the vaccine, similar to healthcare workers across the state.
“You can see there’s a variance across the state, which is surprising,” he said. “But all (residents and staffers) have been offered, and 72 percent is the overall norm. We’ve seen that some areas have taken a higher percentage than others, and then some are lower, and we’re not sure why, but we’re hoping more decide to take it in the future.”
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