New York has hit a slump when it comes to the percentage of residents who have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
As Hot Air reported, New York was doing fine when it came to administering the first dose of the vaccine just a few weeks ago, but it is now in the bottom 10 states when percentages are considered. In fact, the outlet noted, it’s “the lone blue state in the bottom 10 according to the Bloomberg tracker, with just 12.8 percent of New Yorkers having received their first shot.”
“It’s also bottom 10 in the percentage of vaccine supply used, at 70.3 percent. For comparison purposes, Florida stands at 13.9 percent and 76.6 percent, respectively. California, which had a slow early rollout of the vaccine? 14.5 percent and 73.6 percent, respectively,” the outlet continued.
As The Daily Wire previously reported (and Hot Air confirmed in its own report) states shouldn’t necessarily be knocked for having a high percentage of unused vaccine doses, as that percentage includes the necessary second dose. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in late January tried to take a shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican for “only” distributing 50% of the vaccines they had been given. DeSantis responded by explaining to the “data-first” and “facts-first” administration that the unused percentage referred to those second doses.
“If the implication is that we should be giving those second doses away to other people, that is not the way the FDA has prescribed the series. We are also number one in the nation by far in vaccinations of seniors, as Florida has vaccinated more than 1 million seniors 65 and older to date,” DeSantis said.
That same argument applies to New York, California, and every other state. Hot Air also argued that “it’s conceivable that New York just received a big shipment that it hasn’t had a chance to dose out yet.”
But the state’s relatively low percentage of residents who have had their first dose is concerning. Alyssa Katz, deputy editor of The City, posited that perhaps the low dosage numbers are due to residents fleeing New York during the pandemic and still being counted toward population numbers. Hot Air noted “that in itself would be an indictment of [New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo’s (and [New York City Mayor] Bill de Blasio’s) pandemic leadership,” because it meant the “rich felt they had to leave his jurisdiction in order to stay safe.”
Another reason New York may have fallen could be due to the major snowstorms that have recently hit the region, though Hot Air noted other northeastern states haven’t fallen in the rankings of vaccine doses administered.
“Making the slow pace of vaccinations even more concerning is the rise of the so-called “New York variant” locally, which seems to spread more easily than standard coronavirus does. The British variant, which is thought to be more contagious *and* more deadly, is also circulating in New York. Result: New York City’s positivity rate remains at around seven percent, quite a bit higher than New York State and higher than the current national rate, which has slipped below five percent. A major population center at special risk of a new variant-driven surge is creating bad vibes for scientists, who fear that a fourth national wave is coming next month as the British virus continues to propagate across the U.S.,” Hot Air reported.