There have been questions asked and recommendations made regarding the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in comments on this blog. For this reason, Gossips is providing a summary of Governor Andrew Cuomo's press briefing earlier today which addressed the issue of vaccinations.
Some important facts to remember: New York needs to vaccinate 20 million people. At the present time, the state is receiving 300,000 doses of the vaccine a week. The current vaccines, produced by Pfizer and Moderna, require that everyone receive two doses.
The first priority was vaccinating residents and staff at nursing homes. Vaccinating nursing home residents has been a federal program. New York State is now stepping in to expedite the process, with the goal of getting all nursing home residents and staff their first dose of the vaccine in the next two weeks.
The next priority--and the first priority for state run distribution--is healthcare workers. So far, 900,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed to hospitals in the state, but there are 2.1 million healthcare workers in the state, and each one needs two doses.
The next group is essential works (for example, police officers, firefighters, transportation workers) and people who are 75 and older. At this point in the distribution process, there will be a shift from distributing the vaccine essentially only to hospitals to what Cuomo called the "retail network"--which includes pharmacies, health centers, health departments, urgent care facilities, and doctor's offices. Statewide, 3,762 provider sites have been identified to be part of the "retail network," 343 of them in the Capital Region. Despite the use of the word retail, Cuomo stressed that the vaccine will be free. There are no copays required.
If you want to know as soon as you are eligible to receive the COVID vaccination, you can sign up here. You are required to give your name, date of birth, address, and an email address and mobile phone number, and you will be notified when you are eligible to receive your COVID vaccination.
Click here to watch Cuomo's entire press briefing.
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