[NFA] The governors of New York and Florida sought to accelerate the slower-than-expected rollout of coronavirus vaccines by warning hospitals on Monday that they would reduce future allocations to those that fail to dispense shots quickly enough.
Freddie Joyner has more.
Three weeks ago New York City intensive care unit nurse Sandra Lindsay was the first person in the United States to receive a coronavirus vaccine – and on Monday – she was the first to get her second and final dose … It’s been 21 days since her shot kicked off a massive, nationwide vaccine roll-out, that by all accounts is moving way too slow.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the U.S. federal government has distributed more than 13 million vaccine doses to states and territories around the country, with only around 4 million of those doses actually administered.
And states are getting fed up... New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that New York will begin fining hospitals - and will decline to provide them with further doses - if they fail to act with urgency.
"From the day you receive the allocation, you have seven days to use that allocation.
(FLASH) So any provider who does not use the vaccine could be fined up to $100,000.
(FLASH) I don't want the vaccine in a fridge or a freezer, I want it in somebody's arm, so yes I’m being aggressive.
(FLASH) The hospital doesn’t have to participate.
If they don’t want the pressure of doing it, I understand, fine.” In Florida, where officials have put senior citizens ahead of many essential workers for getting the vaccine, Governor Ron DeSantis announced a policy that would allocate doses to hospitals that dispense them most quickly.
"Hospitals that do not do a good job of getting the vaccine out will have their allocations transferred to hospitals that are doing a good job at getting the vaccine out." Florida will also deploy an additional 1,000 nurses to administer vaccines and will keep state-run vaccination sites open seven days a week.
The U.S. government is under intense pressure to speed up the vaccine rollout as cases surge, with New York announcing Monday that it is the latest state to detect the more contagious strain of the coronavirus first found in the UK.
Cases have already been detected in Colorado and California.
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