New York’s initial vaccine dosages to arrive in coming days – The Daily News Online

ALBANY The state could receive its first COVID-19 vaccine shipments this weekend and vaccinate nursing home and high-risk health workers within the next few weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, before detailing how many dosages will be delivered to each of the states 10 regions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Manhattan-based drugmaker Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine Thursday following a hearing. The states independent vaccine review panel, which includes national health experts and scientists, has been in contact with the FDA and is slated to immediately begin assessing the vaccines safety following federal approval.

By the end of week two, if all goes well and the federal government sticks to the schedule, we expect all high-risk staff will receive the vaccination, Cuomo said Wednesday during a coronavirus briefing at the state Capitol. Staff at every hospital will have access to the allocation ... they will have access to the vaccine via a hospital in their region.

After approval, about 6 million dosages will be allocated to U.S. states based on population and the number of nursing home and health care workers. The federal government will procure shipments, using the military and private delivery companies FedEx and McKesson to transport to states.

They will send it where we ask them to send it and then we set priorities for not only where it goes, but who gets it, Cuomo said, adding the state will expedite vaccinating New Yorkers as soon as possible.

The state is expected to receive 85,000, or half, of an initial shipment of 170,000 doses of the vaccine in the coming days. The next half of the shipment will arrive in another 21 days, or when the first patients who received an inoculation can get their second required dose.

Its a massive undertaking, Cuomo said. I think people have not focused enough on the extent of what this undertaking means.

Additional vaccine shipments are expected on a rolling basis in the coming weeks. The immunization will be prioritized for the states 210,000 nursing home workers and about 90,000 high-risk health care workers of the states 700,000, or those who directly work with COVID-infected patients.

About 225,000 health care workers treat positive cases, including emergency room and intensive care staff.

The hospitals will select the actual individuals who will get the first vaccines within that guidance, Cuomo said.

Staff and residents at long-term and adult care facilities, EMS and other health care workers and essential workers will be prioritized to receive the vaccine in that order, Cuomo said, followed by the general public. New Yorkers enlisted in the U.S. Army and National Guard are also eligible to receive the immunization first.

The governor estimated the general public will be able to receive a vaccination in late January or early February.

We have to see how it goes, and before we get to that general, public distribution, well lay out sites where people can go to get vaccinated, the governor said. But we have a ways to go before we get there.

The state plans to release contact tracing data collected by local governments and health departments. The governor will discuss more details Friday with updates to the Coronavirus Task Forces COVID-19 response plan.

The state located 90 regional distribution centers in every region capable of producing the ultra-cold refrigeration conditions required to store the COVID-19 vaccine. In October, health officials said the vaccine would require storage at minus-70 degrees Celsius, or minus-112 Fahrenheit.

This is a different definition of cold storage this is like really, really cold storage, the governor said. Not every facility can do it, not every hospital can do it.

The north country will receive 3,700 doses of the first vaccine shipment, with the Capital Region getting 7,850 doses, 6,400 doses in Central New York, 11,150 in the Finger Lakes and 14,500 in Western New York. New York City will receive 72,000 dosages of the initial batch, and 26,500 doses will be sent to Long Island.

The state opted into a federal program to partner with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to administer the immunization in nursing homes similar to a program giving nursing home residents the flu shot each year. The program will begin Dec. 21, with vaccine shipment deliveries starting to arrive next week.

We do expect to have enough to cover all residents and all staff, Cuomo said. The staff is vaccinated on a rolling basis to make sure they have staff thats receiving the vaccine and staff thats working at all times.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed the state will not send individual patient data to federal agencies that could be used to document citizenship or deportation. The federal government required states to sign a data-sharing agreement earlier this fall, which could have permitted federal officials to collect Americans Social Security, passport or drivers license numbers, which could be used to identify undocumented residents.

These are alarm bells for people who are undocumented, Cuomo said. If undocumented people dont get vaccinated, it compromises their health and it compromises the whole program. The program only works if you hit a critical mass of the population.

Between 75% and 85% of a population must be vaccinated for an immunization to be effective in a community. The state plans to launch a massive public education campaign to dispel the skepticism for residents to take the vaccine. Recent national polls show more than half of Americans question the safety of the shot and would decline receiving it.

This has to be done in a way that protects social justice in the health care system, the governor said, adding the U.S. health care model discriminates against Black, Latinx and poor communities, which have fewer medical facilities and higher COVID-19 death rates.

Cuomo has said the states separate vaccine review will not delay inoculations, and will help ease the minds of Americans who remain uncertain about the vaccine.

We have the vaccine that is the weapon that will win the war if people take it, the governor said. I think the New York panel, as a second panel to approve it, is going to go a long way toward battling that skepticism and improve that process.

Amendments and additions to the states COVID-19 winter response plan will be announced Friday, Cuomo said.

State officials met virtually with all hospital administrators Wednesday to discuss the surge and flex initiative, or plan to balance patient caseloads, among individual health systems as cases continue to increase across the state and nation.

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New York's initial vaccine dosages to arrive in coming days - The Daily News Online