(Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash)
Dec. 2, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York will receive its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccination by mid-December, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.
New York State is expected to receive 170,000 doses of the vaccine — developed by Pfizer — from the federal government by Dec. 15, Cuomo said.
“We expect, if all safety and efficacy approvals are granted, those doses will arrive on December 15,” he said at an Albany press conference.
The first batch of vaccinations — once federally approved — will be given to nursing home residents and staff.
The vaccine is 95 percent effective, Pfizer reported.
Each person who receives the coronavirus vaccination will need two shots. Three weeks after the first Pfizer shipment, New York will receive another 170,000 doses that will be given to the same people as their second shot, Cuomo said.
A shipment of the competing Moderna vaccination — which is reportedly 94.5 percent effective — is expected later this month. The number of doses included in that shipment to New York is still unknown.
Nursing home residents and staff — a combined 210,000 people across New York — will also be prioritized for the Moderna vaccine.
Cuomo said the first shipments of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be enough to vaccinate nearly all of the state’s nursing home population, including staff — given that some people will refuse to get the shot.
The state is following CDC guidelines on how to prioritize the coronavirus vaccine distribution, he added.
Elderly people, like those in nursing homes, are at a higher risk of complications and death from COVID-19.
In fact, those 65 and older were urged to stay home except for medical and essential reasons in an advisory the NYC Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi issued on Tuesday. The advisory also applies to those with underlying health conditions.
The next batch of coronavirus vaccinations will go to healthcare workers, specifically those who work in the emergency room and intensive care units, Cuomo said.
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Ideally, if there were any justice in this world, an effective vaccine would be offered LAST to those groups and communities that have flouted the restrictions that were put in place to safeguard all of us in this pandemic, and to save as many lives as possible. Their deliberate flouting of these restrictions resulted in needless infections, deaths and hospitalizations , and imposed even more strains and cost burdens on our healthcare systems.
hese irresponsible communities would include Republicans and Trump followers who claimed that the virus was a hoax and even refused to wear masks- at a minimum!- – as the death tolls mounted; right-wing Staten Islanders and others who flouted rules and claimed that Cuomo and DeBlasio were dictators –as infection rates soared in their neighborhoods; religious groups such as New York Catholic churches (who sued regarding restrictions on indoor gatherings) and Ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews who consistently ignored regulations (i.e. 7000 person weddings) meant to protect both the wider community and them; and businesses owners who railed at the restrictions, and the NY politicians who were forced to institute them –instead of railing at the Republican Senators in Washington, who refused to even consider desperately needed aid for these very same businesses (aid which was passed way bacl in May by the Democratic House). I will be amused if many of these individuals are suddenly converted and clamor to be first in line for a vaccine. Me first! Me first! I guess some people have no shame. This besides their lack of intelligence, compassion and empathy for their fellow Americans. There is a saying that trying times often bring out the best in us. Unfortuntely in the last none months we have seen that they also bring out the worst in some of us.