ALBANY (WCBS 880) — New York State is getting another boost in its vaccine supply from the federal government, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday.
The governor said he was on a conference call with the White House on Tuesday morning in which they said New York would be getting another 5% increase in vaccine supply.
“The 5% increase doesn't sound like much, but remember it's on top of the first announcement which was 16% increase and the second announcement of 5%,” Cuomo explained.
He noted that the state can count on getting the increase supply for the next three weeks.
Cuomo also said that the state will be looking to reallocate vaccine supply in order to get first doses into more arms now that around 10 million New Yorkers are eligible for inoculation.
“There is discussions going on around unused allocation in the long-term healthcare facilities,” Cuomo said.
He notes that the federal government has taken over the vaccination efforts in nursing homes and long-term care facilities and says that they were likely overallocated.
“So we will be reallocating doses from that program to the general state allocation,” the governor said. “Those are excess, unused doses.”
Cuomo says they will not be using the second dose reserve as first shots either, as they must be available for those who need it, when they need it. Though, they could reallocate unused doses.
“If a person does not show up for their second dose, either three weeks for Pfizer or four weeks for Moderna, the state must keep it available for 42 days,” Cuomo said. “In other words, on Pfizer, you’re supposed to come back on day 21, on Moderna, you’re supposed to come back on day 28 – if someone doesn’t come back, you must hold the vaccine for them until day 42. After day 42, you could use that dose for someone else.”
Still, Cuomo notes that if the person comes back for a second dose, whenever they come back, the state still has to find a second dose for that person, even if it’s after 42 days.
He’s hoping reallocating tens of thousands of doses not being used by nursing homes will provide a significant boost to the state’s vaccine supply.
Cuomo says New York has given out 10.5 million doses of the vaccine, and notes the state will be able to do even more if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is authorized for emergency use.
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