Putnam Coronavirus: County Begins Vaccinations

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — The Putnam County Department of Health received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday and will begin vaccinating workers and residents of certain congregate living facilities this week.

“This is what we have all been waiting for,” said Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell in an announcement. “At last, the vaccine is in the hands of our county health department and will be going into the arms of our healthcare providers and most vulnerable citizens."

The coronavirus surge continues in Putnam, one of the hardest-hit in the Hudson region over the holidays.

Putnam received 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday and on Thursday will vaccinate staff and residents of facilities run by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, Office of Mental Health, and Office of Addiction Services and Support, agencies that were given priority by the state. The Moderna vaccine requires a second dose 28 days after the first.

Those who live or work in the facilities have been notified that they can sign up to receive the vaccine.

"Our health department is trained for this, they are the experts in public vaccination programs and they are ready to go. The Department of Health runs vaccination programs every flu season and also when facing health crises like the H1N1 virus," Odell said.

Putnam health department staff worked throughout the holiday week to put together a distribution plan that was requested on Christmas Eve by the Hudson Valley region’s vaccination hub at Westchester Medical Center. Putnam’s was among the first county distribution plans approved.

On Wednesday, Odell activated the Bureau of Emergency Services Incident Command Structure to oversee an orderly rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

“We recognize there is both a desire for vaccines as well as a certain amount of vaccine hesitancy," said Kathy Percacciolo, PCDOH Supervising Public Health Nurse. “Residents should be assured, the COVID-19 vaccines we have are safe and effective.”

The COVID-19 vaccine is in short supply — the state has received just 300,000 a week — and so the New York State Department of Health established a strict distribution schedule. The first phase, called Phase 1A, prioritizes healthcare workers and staff and residents of nursing homes and other congregate care facilities. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Phase 1A includes 2.1 million healthcare workers.

County executives from the New York State Association of Counties have asked Cuomo for more independence in managing the vaccination process, Odell said.

Local health departments are just one of the agencies that will distribute COVID-19. Hospitals, federally qualified health centers, urgent care centers and pharmacies have also been assigned various Phase 1A groups to vaccinate.

In New York State, Phase 1A includes:

• High-risk hospital workers (emergency room workers, ICU staff and Pulmonary Department staff)
• Residents and staff at nursing homes and other congregate care facilities
• Federally Qualified Health Center employees
• EMS workers
• Coroners, medical examiners and certain funeral workers
• Staff and residents at OPWDD, OMH and OASAS facilities
• Urgent Care providers
• Individuals administering COVID-19 vaccines, including local health department staff

As of Jan. 4, the following people qualify for vaccination:

• All Outpatient/Ambulatory front-line, high-risk health care workers of any age who provide direct in-person patient care
• All staff who are in direct contact with patients (i.e., intake staff)
• All front-line, high-risk public health workers who have direct contact with patients, including those conducting COVID-19 tests, handling COVID-19 specimens and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Eligible medical personnel also include:

• Doctors who work in private medical practices and their staff
• Doctors who work in hospital-affiliated medical practices and their staff
• Doctors who work in public health clinics and their staff
• Registered Nurses
• Specialty medical practices of all types
• Dentists and Orthodontists and their staff
• Psychiatrists and Psychologists and their staff
• Physical Therapists and their staff
• Optometrists and their staff
• Pharmacists and Pharmacy Aides
• Home care workers
• Hospice workers

The state has not released detailed plans for the next phase, Phase 1B, which includes police and fire departments, people over 74 and about 870,000 education workers.

Michael Nesheiwat, MD Commissioner of Health, said the Putnam County health department is prepared to vaccinate more residents and employees of Putnam County as the vaccine roll-out progresses.

"As the vaccine becomes more widely available, we strongly urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated," he said.

The distribution rate to New York State from the federal government is 1.2 million doses per month. The state is lobbying for faster distribution as New York would need 40 million doses to vaccinate 20 million New Yorkers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week. "Obviously it's a very long timeline at this supply rate."

Putnam County has asked the state to move police and fire departments to Phase 1A.

An attempt by New York City to re-label most of the NYPD as EMS providers so they could get vaccines in the 1A phase was halted Wednesday. Officers who are already certified EMS providers are in 1A.

Cuomo's office issued a statement Thursday afternoon on the issue, saying that there are more than 1 million health-care workers in 1A who have not yet received the vaccine.

"The rules of the COVID vaccine distribution have been clear for many weeks and agreed to by virtually all credible federal and state leaders. The first priority is "1A," healthcare workers who are on the front lines. With the increasing hospitalization rates, the new UK strain spread and hospital staff shortages, keeping hospitals functioning is essential to avoid another shutdown.

"Once those healthcare workers who want to accept a vaccine are afforded the opportunity, vaccinations go to the "1B" category which includes essential workers including police, firefighters and 75+ year old New Yorkers (who have the highest death rate from COVID). Police are not "healthcare workers" for 1A purposes except those who are EMS or EMT. As everyone knows, virtually every police officer is trained in CPR, but that does not make them a 'healthcare worker' for the purpose of vaccine distribution.

"Also the state plan will not allow 1B to commence only with police; it also includes teachers, firefighters and other essential workers as well as 75+ year old New Yorkers - all eligible at the same time. We do not, and will not allow, prioritization of one group over any other in 1B.

"The City of New York has 917,000 eligible healthcare workers in 1A and has only administered 144,000 vaccines. Many more healthcare workers are anxiously awaiting the vaccine. New York City has received 304,000 dosages beginning in December through last week and administered less than 50 percent. We urge New York City and other local governments to get needles in the arms of the healthcare workers to avoid our frontline heroes from getting sick and our hospitals from collapsing due to increasing staff shortages.

"Any government or hospital that has offered their healthcare workers vaccines and are at their "refusal rate" (workers have been offered the vaccine but refused it) should inform DOH and we will reallocate their doses. We have many healthcare workers demanding the vaccine. There are over 1 million healthcare workers who have not yet been offered the vaccine. Also, as a reminder, herd immunity requires 70-90% vaccination and we hope healthcare workers exceed the minimum acceptance rate.

"We're all anxious to get the vaccination to 1B, 75 year old New Yorkers, and essential workers. However, we must establish competent administration because if a government fails to administer 1A vaccines, what makes anyone think they can competently administer 1B?"

"The state has previously announced plans for 1B vaccines. The 1B category includes approximately 3 million people statewide and the state will utilize a variety of non-governmental agencies to administer those vaccines including pharmacies, private doctor networks, and community groups serving underserved communities, as the state announced last week. There will be literally thousands of distribution points statewide.

"We are asking large union forces such as police, firefighters and teachers to organize their own vaccination programs, where possible, to remove volume from private providers and health departments.

"We have asked local governments to coordinate with these groups to determine if they can "self-administer" or use their own providers or will utilize the private provider network. Again the main issue will be supply. For example, the 1B category is over 3 million people and the state still only receives 300,000 doses per week. There are also 1 million 1A healthcare workers still awaiting vaccines. Hopefully, we expect an increase in federal supply shortly."