Essential workers and at-risk people to given vaccine priority: Cuomo

A draft plan for distributing a potential COVID-19 vaccine would give priority to at-risk people and essential workers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said. 

Much of the specifics are yet to be determined in large part because it’s not yet clear when a vaccine will be available or how many doses would be required. 

In New York alone, a vaccine for the entire state’s population of 19 million people could require up to 40 million doses if two shots are required.

Additional questions also include how vaccine doses would potentially have to be stored at cold temperatures. “This is all preliminary, but we will prioritize the vaccinations based on risk, essential workers and people at risk would be prioritized,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Sunday in New York City. 

Cuomo, the chairman of the National Governors Association, also plans to release 36 questions from the nation’s governors on vaccine distribution, allocation and priority. 

“States cannot do this on their own,” Cuomo said. “This is a massive undertaking. This is a larger operational undertaking than anything we have done with COVID to date.”

Cuomo is also concerned some people will be skeptical of a vaccine’s safety. 

“Before you let people put a needle in their arm and give them a vaccine, there are going to be serious questions,” he said. 

New York’s overall infection rate in the last day stands at 1.08 percent based on the results of about 128,000 tests — a number that includes “hot spots” of COVID-19 cases in parts of Brooklyn, Queens, the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier.

Seven people have died in the last 24 hours and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have decreased by 16 patients to 913 people.  

The state is focusing on “micro-clusters” to prevent a broader spread of the virus. That has meant closing non-essential businesses and schools in those areas while also pushing for stricter enforcement of pandemic guidelines.

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