Those individuals will be a part of the second phase of New York’s vaccine distribution plan. The second phase will also include essential workers.
The first phase, which began this week, includes health care workers at highest risk from the virus plus residents and staff in nursing homes and other long-term residential facilities.
“As the vaccinations go up, Covid will come down,” Cuomo said during a press conference in Albany. “It’s just a question of logistics and supply and making it happen.”
The second phase of vaccine distribution will be overseen by region, Cuomo said. Hospitals will lead the effort.
Upstate Medical University in Syracuse will lead the phase two distribution in Central New York.
Cuomo said each lead hospital will develop a phase two plan for the region it covers. He said he’s taking a regional approach because the distribution will need to work differently in different parts of the state.
The North Country has different needs than New York City, for example, Cuomo said.
Hospitals must submit their distribution plans the first week of January. The state Health Department will then review and approve them.
The rest of the general public will get the vaccine after the high-priority groups. It will take six to nine months before enough people have gotten the shots to begin seriously curbing the pandemic.
About 4,000 people statewide have received the vaccine so far.
The state began receiving its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine this week. The first to get the shots have been health-care workers at highest risk from the virus, including those who work directly with Covid patients.
Nursing home residents and staff will begin getting shots in the next few days after New York receives another 80,000 doses of the vaccine.
So far, the state has received 87,750 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Its first allocation is expected to total 170,000 doses.
New York also expects 346,000 doses of a second vaccine from Moderna. The federal Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the Moderna shot for emergency use soon.
Cuomo also said today that the state Department of Financial Services will order all insurers to cover any costs associated with getting the vaccine for all New Yorkers.
“We want people to get vaccinated,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about wealth. No one will pay a penny.”
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Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com
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