Governor Cuomo Announces Initial Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccine Doses for 170,000 New Yorkers

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York State will receive an initial delivery of enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for 170,000 New Yorkers. If all safety and efficacy approvals are granted by the federal government, the state expects to receive the vaccines—which were created by Pfizer—on December 15. New York State expects additional allocations of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna later this month.

“As we continue to move through the holiday season, the good news is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately it is still a ways away and we are now faced with a set of challenges to overcome before we get there. Not only is the number of COVID-19 cases rising virtually everywhere, but they are stemming from a new source, with nearly 70 percent of cases being traced back to households and private gatherings,” Governor Cuomo said. “The federal government has also informed us that New York will be getting its first 170,000 doses of the vaccine in the coming weeks, and while that is certainly welcomed news, the federal vaccination plan not only overlooks the black, brown, and poor communities, but its data sharing provisions will dissuade the undocumented community from getting a vaccination. Winning the war against COVID has to be an inclusive process and only by everyone working together will we be successful. While we continue to fight to make the federal plan more inclusive, effective and fair, New Yorkers need to do their part to help limit the spread.”

The Governor noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state’s Micro-Cluster strategy is 5.88 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 4.21 percent. Within the focus areas, 49,027 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 2,882 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 144,524 test results were reported, yielding 6,091 positives.