New York, in the Top 10 SLOWEST State To Distribute the Vaccine Shots

"New York National Guard support to COVID-19 Vaccination Sites" (CC BY-ND 2.0) by New York National Guard

The state of New York comes last when it comes to the percentage of residents who have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine. 

According to the report by Hot Air, New York comes at the bottom 10 states when it comes to administering the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The outlet also noted that it is the “lone blue state in the bottom 10 according to the Bloomberg tracker, with just 12.8 percent of New Yorkers having received their first shot.”

The report also stated that it is also in the bottom 10 in the percentage of Vaccine supply used, at 70.3%.

The outlet continued, “It’s also bottom 10 in the percentage of vaccine supply used, at 70.3 percent. For comparison purposes, Florida stands at 13.9 percent and 76.6 percent, respectively. California, which had a slow early rollout of the vaccine? 14.5 percent and 73.6 percent, respectively.”

In late January, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to criticize Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican for “only” distributing 50% of the COVID-19 vaccines that the government had handed them. 

DeSantis responded to this criticism by explaining to the “data-first” and “facts-first” administration that the remaining doses also referred to the second doses. 

DeSantis said, “If the implication is that we should be giving those second doses away to other people, that is not the way the FDA has prescribed the series. We are also number one in the nation by far in vaccinations of seniors, as Florida has vaccinated more than 1 million seniors 65 and older to date.” The same argument applies to New York and every other state.

Nevertheless, another publication argued that it is conceivable that the state of New York just received a “big shipment” of vaccines that it has not had a chance to distribute yet.

However, New York’s relatively low percentage of residents who had their first dose of coronavirus vaccine is concerning. 

Meanwhile, the deputy editor of The City, Alyssa Katz, declared that perhaps the low dosage numbers are due to the fact that residents are moving out of New York during the pandemic and is still ongoing still being counted toward population numbers. 

Hot Air noted, “that in itself would be an indictment of [New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo’s (and [New York City Mayor] Bill de Blasio’s) pandemic leadership,” because this means that the “rich felt they had to leave his jurisdiction in order to stay safe.”

Another possible reason why New York have fallen is because of the major snowstorms that have recently hit the region. Yet, according to data, other northeastern states have not fallen in the rankings of vaccine doses distribution unlike New York.

What make the slow pace of COVID vaccinationsis the rise of the “New York variant,” locally which seems to spread more faster compared to the other variant of the virus. 

Other than this, the British variant, which was said to be more contagious and more deadly is also circulating in the state of New York. As a result of this, the rate of Coronavirus infections in New York City remains at around 7%, a number that is a bit higher than New York State and than the current national rate, which has already fallen below 5%. 

A major population center at special risk of a new variant-driven surge is generating bad vibes for scientists, who worry that a fourth national wave is coming next month as the British virus continues to scatter across the U.S.

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