New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference on September 8, 2020 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a law that makes it a crime to sell or administer coronavirus vaccines to people trying to jump in line.
“This vaccine can be like gold for some people,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Monday. “If there is any fraud in the distribution – are you allowing people to get ahead of others, or friends or family, or are you selling the vaccine – you will lose your license, but i believe it should be a crime and i will propose a law for that purpose. “
Cuomo said that providers could lose their license if they administer vaccines fraudulently, although the law adds criminal penalties if passed by the state legislature. So far, healthcare professionals and people living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are eligible for Covid-19 vaccines.
The announcement came just a week after a New York clinic, the ParCare Community Health Network, was accused of incorrectly reporting to the state health department to get doses of vaccine.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement that the clinic may have “diverted [the vaccine] to members of the public – as opposed to the state’s plan to administer it first to frontline health professionals, as well as residents and nursing home staff. ”ParCare said it would cooperate with the attorney general’s investigation.
New York has already started administering Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, although the launch was slower than planned. Cuomo pressured state hospitals to administer the vaccine more quickly. He said that hospitals face fines of up to $ 100,000 if they fail to administer their coronavirus vaccines by the end of this week.
The state received more than 774,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, but gave only 237,000 vaccines by Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospitals that received Covid-19 vaccines in the past three weeks used only about 46% of doses on average, according to a slide that Cuomo presented at the briefing. While some hospitals administered almost all of their doses, others used only 15%, according to the governor.
“This is a question of hospital management. They have to transport the vaccine, and they have to transport the vaccine faster, ”said Cuomo.
Cuomo said the New York State Department of Health sent a letter to all hospitals on Sunday saying that if they did not apply their vaccines by the end of this week, they would be fined up to $ 100,000 and receive no further allocations.
Moving forward, state hospitals will be required to use their doses within a week after receiving them. Providers who fall seriously behind may receive more sanctions, he said.
“You have the allocation, we want it in the people’s arms as soon as possible,” said Cuomo. “We will use other hospitals that can manage it better.”
New York is participating in the federal government’s partnership with drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens to administer doses to long-term residents, although Cuomo said the program is not moving fast enough.
Nearly half of the state’s 611 facilities participating in the program have administered residents the first dose of the vaccine so far, Cuomo said. The state will send staff to “complement and streamline” the federal program so that up to 85% of nursing home residents are vaccinated with their first dose by the end of this week, he said.
“The goal is, in the next two weeks, for all nursing home residents to be vaccinated,” said Cuomo. “Nursing homes have always been the most vulnerable populations and we want this to be done. We want this to be done quickly.”