Cuomo’s COVID Vaccination Rollout In NY Is A Total Mess

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is handling the Empire State’s vaccination rollout about as well as he protected the state’s nursing home residents during the early days of the pandemic.

When the state’s hospitals, like many other hospitals around the country, fell short of vaccination targets, Cuomo threatened to fine them if they vaccinated anybody who didn’t belong to one of the priority groups. When critics slammed the governor for creating more bureaucratic obstacles, he turned around and issued another order, leaving hospitals liable for hefty fines if they didn’t meet use up all the doses within 7 days of receiving them.

While Cuomo has apparently been too busy peddling his new book to pay much attention to all the criticism, New Yorkers are starting to catch on.

The governor’s latest transgression: Cuomo announced he’s building out a retail network to distribute vaccines at a series of sites around the state.

It is Jan 6, the news that a vaccine was imminent has been out there for ~3 months, and Cuomo informs us last night by email that he’s working “to develop” a “retail network” of vaccination sites.

Really?

What in God’s name have they been doing since October? pic.twitter.com/z7qxvc5o2c

— Donut Shorts (@DonutShorts) January 6, 2021

Azar is on the tape today telling the states, ‘broaden the pool of eligible vaccine recipients, don’t let the doses sit in the freezer’

Cuomo is threatening NYS HC providers with a $1MM fine if they inject the wrong person.

Could he possibly f*ck this up any more?

— Donut Shorts (@DonutShorts) January 6, 2021

Even NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio attacked Cuomo over his vaccination plans, which prioritizes drug addicts living in state-run rehab facilities over NYPD officers who interact with the public every day.

Things are not going well for Cuomo when Bill de Blasio is calling him out for overly restrictive regulations.#ReleaseTheDoses pic.twitter.com/b9eCIGRBg5

— Donut Shorts (@DonutShorts) January 7, 2021

Mayor de Blasio spoke out during a press conference earlier this week claiming the city needed “freedom to vaccinate,” while defending his plan to expeditiously vaccinate police officers and others who aren’t on Cuomo’s narrow list (which he expanded amid more criticism). When de Blasio informed Cuomo about his plan, he was “told by the state” that his massive push to vaccinate those people was not allowed, and he could only distribute doses to some NYPD medical core members.

“Yesterday I told you about new state rules that had come out that we interpreted – we think very clearly, very appropriately, very legally – to mean that we could vaccinate our correction officers. That we could vaccinate our police officers who respond to 9-1-1 calls who have to administer CPR…the folks who in any moment could be in very close, intimate proximity with another person,” de Blasio said.

Join me at City Hall to talk about the violent riot that President Trump incited yesterday in Washington. https://t.co/b2hcm5n1gq

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 7, 2021

Under Cuomo’s rules, only a few hundred emergency service officers are eligible to receive vaccine doses in the first distribution phase, vs. the roughly 36K officers on the force.

As of Thursday evening, NY State had reported just 430K vaccination doses administered, out of more than 1MM distributed.

At this rate, NY won’t finish the job for a long, long time.

At the current rate of vaccination, NYS will not complete the task until roughly Labor Day 2022.

— Donut Shorts (@DonutShorts) January 7, 2021