NY likely to get first Covid-19 vaccines Dec. 15

New York state expects to receive its first batch of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Dec. 15 if approval for its use is granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as expected around Dec. 10.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told a news conference that the initial delivery would consist of enough doses for 170,000 people. The state would expect to receive additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine and doses of the vaccine developed by Moderna, if it also is approved by the FDA, beginng later in the month.

Cuomo said that a panel of New York experts would review the clinical trial data on the vaccines, in addition to whatever the FDA does.

“We know we have existing skepticism about the vaccine. Our panel did not create the skepticism. The skepticism existed and that’s why we created the review panel,” Cuomo said.

“The Kaiser poll says 60% of Americans are skeptical about the vaccine approval process. Kaiser is not a political organization. Pew poll says about 50% of Americans are skeptical about the vaccine. That is very, very troubling. If people think the vaccine approval process was politicized, they’re going to be less likely to take the vaccine.”

Cuomo blamed cynicism about the vaccines on the Trump administration’s openly exerting political influence on public health officials.

Cuomo said that he is working with the National Governors Association, of which he is the current chairman, to push for the federal government to provide funding for vaccination programs by the states.

“The federal government is not providing any funding to speak of for the states to do the vaccinations,’ Cuomo said. “Who’s supposed to pay for this? How am I supposed to do the distribution? We have a deficit from Covid. You have local governments who are starving and may lay off essential workers. Those are the essential workers you need to do the vaccine program. This vaccine administration will cost the state a billion dollars. The federal government has not provided funding to states anywhere near that amount.”

Cuomo said that a major issue in vaccination programs will be equitable distribution to ensure that minority and poor communities are reached.

“I believe the vaccine should be made available to everyone regardless of race, income, religion, et cetera. And we know that the Black, brown and poor community has already paid a disproportionate price for this Covid virus,” Cuomo said.

He also pointed out that undocumented immigrants can contract and spread the virus just as can documented individuals and U.S. citizens but the administration is erecting a roadblock.

“Federal guidance has the states signing something called a data-sharing agreement. The federal government suggests we identify recipients by using Social Security numbers, passport numbers or driver’s license ID numbers,” Cuomo said. “Those are also proxies to determine citizenship. The federal agreement then says they can share that information with other federal agencies. That triggers ICE and Homeland Security.” Cuomo said that will deter a lot of people from being vaccinated.

He said that the federal government is allocating doses of the vaccines according to the proportion of a state’s population to that of the country as a whole.

“There’s no discretion in how much the state gets. It’s purely a percent of population,” Cuomo said. “By the end of December, the administration suggests that there will be enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two dosages, which is 40 million dosages. That means 6% of Americans…and those 6% will be prioritized as the health care workers, seniors in congregate facilities, et cetera. But 6% of Americans, having available dosages by the beginning of January, you see how far we have to go.”

Cuomo said that, in his opinion, “This will be the largest governmental operation undertaken since World War II.” He said that to help manage the state’s vaccination operations he is bringing back Larry Schwartz, who formerly served as his secretary and who was at one time Westchester County’s deputy county executive. Also returning to help manage the vaccination program are Cuomo’s former chief of staff Linda Lacewell and former Deputy Secretary for Economic Development Simonida Subotic.