NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening some New York hospitals with fines if they don't speed up their COVID-19 vaccinations.
During his daily briefing Monday the governor pointed the finger at hospitals that have vaccines sitting on the shelf.
"We want those vaccines in people's arms, we need them to administer vaccines faster," Cuomo said. "I don't want the vaccine in a freezer, I want it in somebody's arm."
The governor said New York City's public hospitals have used 31% of their vaccines and Nassau University Medical Center has injected under one in five.
"This is a management issue of the hospitals, they have to move the vaccine and they have to move the vaccine faster," Cuomo said. "From the day you receive the allocations, you have seven days to use that allocation."
The state's Department of Health has issued a letter to all hospitals stating that if they fail to use their vaccine allocation by the end of this week they could risk losing future deliveries and face a fine of up to $100,000.
"If your hospital doesn't have the capacity, then just say that, but don't say, 'As a hospital I can administer it' but then don't. That's why you would be fined, for accepting allocation that you can't administer or won't administer," Cuomo said. "You should just say, 'I don't want to participate in the program,' which is fine and then we'll give it to another hospital."
New York-Presbyterian Hospital is the highest performing system, administering 99% of their allocation.
There's also a push to ramp up injections at nursing homes.
Cuomo said nursing homes in the state have been participating in a federal program that contracted pharmacy chains to conduct the vaccinations in the facilities.
But the governor said that has "not been going as quickly as we would have liked" so the state will step in to help expedite the vaccinations.
New York has 611 nursing home facilities statewide and about 288 of them have completed administering the first doses of the vaccine for residents.
"We are going to supplement and expedite the federal program and 234 additional dosages will happen this week, which will get up to 85% of the nursing home residents by the end of this week," Cuomo said. "That would be significant progress on the nursing home residents. That will leave about 15% of the nursing home residents that need to be vaccinated and we want to get that done over the next two weeks."
The governor also said the state will be setting up drive-thru and pop-up vaccination sites when it is time for the general public to being receiving the vaccine, with a special focus on so-called "health care deserts" that don't have hospitals or pharmacies.
Convention centers and field hospitals will also act as distribution sites. Retired personnel including nurses and doctors would staff those facilities.
So far the state has administered 300,000 vaccines.
Cuomo said there are now more than 8,200 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — the highest since the spring. The positivity rate statewide is 8.34%.
The governor blames the spike on holiday gatherings.
"We were warning about holidays and gatherings and we're seeing the spike that came from increased social gatherings," the governor said.
The governor also announced that he's expanding the list of people eligible to get the vaccine to include all doctors, nurses and staff who come into contact with the public.