Residents and staffers at nursing homes across New York will begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, according to state officials.
The first doses of the vaccine will be administered by CVS and Walgreens workers at 618 long-term care facilities signed up with the state’s vaccine program, Gareth Rhodes, special counsel to the state Department of Financial Services, said Friday.
“CVS expects all of theirs to be done within the first two weeks and we’re still working with Walgreens but I would expect a similar timetable,” said Rhodes at a press briefing held by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The health-care workers will return to nursing homes to deliver the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot 21 days later.
The good news comes after a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy found that those in nursing homes are still “acutely vulnerable” to coronavirus infections.
The bug — coupled with Gov. Cuomo’s botched response in the early days of the public health crisis — is believed to have killed more than 11,000 elderly. The Cuomo administration has put the death toll at about 6,500 but hasn’t said how many died after they were taken to hospitals.
New York State is expected to receive 170,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine as part of the first rollout — 87,000 will go to hospitals and the remainder to nursing homes.
Meanwhile, 364,000 doses of Moderna — once it’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration — will go to healthcare workers in the state.
About 19,000 vaccinations have been administered in the Empire State so far.
