BP Adams Calls On State Department Of Health To Expand Eligibility And Institute Three-Level, Color-Coded, Transparent Deployment Plan

Press release from the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President:

January 3 2021

Brooklyn, NY – Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called on the New York State Department of Health (DOH) to adopt a plan for expediting the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the city and authorizing the expansion of those eligible for vaccination. His call to action comes amid a slow citywide rollout of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as the infection rate in the city continues to climb, according to City and State statistics. In the first 17 days of the vaccination rollout, starting with the first administration of doses on December 14, 2020, about 340,000 vaccine doses had been delivered to New York City, but only about 88,000 New Yorkers had received the first of two doses. Experts have stated they believe cases will begin to decline once 10 to 20 percent of the city have been vaccinated. As of December 31, 2020, only about one percent of the city’s population had received their first dose.

“It has been almost three weeks since the first vaccines arrived in New York, and our City and State is lagging in their administration, putting lives at risk and delaying our recovery. We are also still waiting to hear about a comprehensive plan for how to vaccinate the New Yorkers most at risk after the first round of dosages, and there has been no plan put forward to expand eligibility. My seven-step plan for expediting the vaccine distribution aligns with the values of clarity, consistency, and communication, so all New Yorkers know where and when they can receive the vaccine. As infection rates continue to rise and we lose more New Yorkers by the day, we cannot afford to delay any further. This is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation, and all of us must be on the ground and moving at the pace that matches the urgency of this moment,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Standing with Council Member Robert Cornegy outside the DOH office in Lower Manhattan, Borough President Adams laid out the following seven steps and called on the City and State to immediately adopt them as part of its plan to achieve herd immunity in the quickest possible time frame:

1. The State must expand eligibility now to speed up vaccination, using criteria that gets the first dose to the New Yorkers most likely to contract or transmit the virus. That criteria should include:

· Workers in high-risk industries

· New Yorkers with medical condition that make them susceptible to the virus

· Residents of the most impacted zip codes

· New Yorkers over the age of 75

2. DOH should create a transparent 3-tier color coded system to define each level of eligibility for those who still need to receive vaccines.

· Red – People with the highest level of need, like frontline workers and first responders

· Yellow – All of the red group, plus the ZIP codes most impacted by the virus, those with medical conditions that make them susceptible, those in high-risk industries, and all New Yorkers over 75

· Green – All of the red and yellow groups, plus all in the public who have not already been vaccinated

3. Once those eligibility standards are authorized, the City should then create a hotline that any New Yorker who qualifies can call in to set an appointment at a vaccine distribution hub

· The hotline will inform callers what documentation they need to present as proof of their eligibility

4. Once they arrive, city residents will need to present some proof they qualify, which could include the following documentation:

· Proof of employment

· Medical records

· Proof of residency

· State-issued or municipal ID

5. To ensure immigrants and other at-risk communities who are eligible get connected with the vaccination program, the City and State must work with advocacy organizations and those groups on the ground who can help them prove eligibility and to build the queue for the next round of dosages.

6. To set up the distribution hubs, the City must immediately provide a map of the 250 locations it says will be used so that we can ensure they can cover the most at-risk populations. That includes:

· Schools without student population currently doing in-person learning

· Schoolyards

· Houses or worship

· Senior centers

7. And to staff them, the City and State should incentivize people in and around the healthcare industry to help supervise and administer the vaccine – which is required by law – since our hospitals are already taxed with patients who have already contracted the virus. That includes:

· Retired health professionals

· Medical students

· American Red Cross

· NYC Blood Bank

A video recording of the press conference is available here.

This press release was produced by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. The views expressed are the author's own.