NY distribution of the Covid Vaccine begins
AIRPORT VOICE, DECEMBER 2020 17
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The first delivery of Pfizer
vaccines for the federal nursing
home vaccination program
began arriving Monday
Dec 14. with the federal program
slated to begin on Dec.
21. New York is dedicating a
portion of its initial allotment
of 170,000 doses to this program.
Portions of future state
allocations will also be used
to help complete the program
and ensure all residents and
staff are vaccinated. The Moderna
vaccine is expected to be
approved by Dec 18 and began
shipping and dosing the week
of Dec .21.
Distriibution of the first
170,000 are:
New York City–72,000
Long Island–26,500
Mid-Hudson–19,200
Capital Region–7,850
North Country–3,700
Mohawk Valley–4,200
Central New York–6,400
Southern Tier–4,500
Finger Lakes–11,150
Western New York–14,500
Northwell Health, formerly
Long Island Jewish, was the
first health care facility in NY
to receive and give the first inoculation
to cheering and excited
workers.
Days earlier Gen. Gustave
F. Perna, the chief operating
officer of Operation
Warp Speed, the federal effort
to bring a vaccine to market,
said that boxes were being
packed at Pfizer’s plant in
Kalamazoo, Mich., and would
be shipped within 24 hours
to UPS and FedEx distribution
hubs, where they would
be dispersed to 636 locations
across the country. The =y
were dispatched on schedule
according the spokespeople
from UPS. The UPS and Fedex
air cargo facilities at JFK Airport
was quiet since most of
the vaccines were shipped in
small numbers and all along
the East Coast from St. Louis.
Pfizer’s vaccine distribution
is more challenging due
to the fact it needs to be kept
at -94 degrees farenheit while
the Moderna needs to be cold
enabling more trucking from
point to point where there are
existing cold refrigeration.
Gen. Gustave F. Perna,
said that boxes were being
packed and shipped from
Pfizer’s plant in Kalamazoo,
Mich.,within 24 hours of the final
FDA emergency approval
by truck to logistics giants Fedex
and UPs hubs for either
continued truck or expedited
air shipments to 636 locations
across the country. The plan
was to have 145 sites receive
the vaccine on Monday the
14th, 425 on Tuesday and 66 on
Wednesday of this past week.
Exact distribution times
and transport methods and
places of destination have
been held close to the vest
since both companies are
meticulously guarding and
tracking shipments, and some
shipments are being escorted
by security to prevent any possible
theft.
Shippers have spent
months upgrading cold storage
infrastructure for the
Pfizer vaccine, which must
be stored at minus 94 degrees
Fahrenheit. UPS, for example,
has been installing ultralowtemperature
freezer farms
that are able to keep goods
as cold as minus 112 degrees
Fahrenheit near its air cargo
hubs in the United States and
Europe. It also plans to produce
more than 24,000 pounds
of dry ice per day at its hub in
Louisville. FedEx has added
ultracold freezers throughout
its U.S. network, too.
In preparation of the distribution,
UPS delivered preparation
kits for Pfizer,from a
McKesson site in Kentucky,
in advance of the vaccine, allowing
it to identify any errors
with addresses in its system.
The kits contained a syringe,
a substance used to dilute the
vaccines, personal protective
equipment, instructions and
mixing vials.
Moderna has not released
its distribution plans but it is
a New Hampshire company
near Boston Logan Airport.
Governor Cuomo said.
“The way the vaccine is going
to work is the federal government
will be responsible for
the procurement and the distribution.
The military is doing
the transportation with
private companies, and they
will send it where we ask them
to send it. We then set the priorities
for not only where it
goes, but who gets it. The first
allocation is for nursing home
residents, nursing home staff
and high-risk health care
workers. We’ve identified 90
regional centers that can keep
the vaccine at the required
temperature and they’ll act as
distribution centers for that
region. “
New York has opted into
the federal government’s
nursing home vaccination
program. Under the federal
program, employees of CVS
and Walgreens will vaccinate
residents and staff in these
facilities, much like the do
for the flu vaccine. New York
State will issue guidance for
hospitals to select which patient
facing staff should be prioritized
as “high-risk” in line
with state rules.
High risk & nursing
home distribution
As outlined in New York’s
vaccination program, highrisk
healthcare workers, nursing
home residents and staff
are prioritized first to receive
the vaccine, followed by other
long-term and congregate care
staff and residents and EMS
and other health care workers.
Essential workers and the
general population, starting
with those who are at highest
risk, will be vaccinated after
these initial priority groups.
As for the residents of
Mary Manning Walsh and five
other nursing homes run by
the New York Catholic archdiocese,
the date is Wednesday,
Dec. 16. That’s when the first
dose of the Pfizer vaccine is
expected to be distributed to
1,700 Archcare residents and
their 3,000 caregivers, pending
final FDA approval.
And Scott LaRue is so
pleased that the infrastructure
is in place for a seamless,
on-site distribution.
Our pharmacy that serves
our nursing homes was actually
selected in addition to
Walgreens and CVS as one of
the distribution centers for
the vaccine.,” LaRue said.
“In the short term, there’s a
sore arm and a low grade fever
for a day or two,
‘High risk’ hospital workers
eligible to receive a vaccination
from the state’s initial
allotment include emergency
room workers, ICU staff and
pulmonary department staff.
As part of the effort to vaccinate
‘high risk’ hospital staff,
the state has identified 90 locations
across the state with
requisite cold storage capabilities
and those sites will receive
enough doses for approximately
90,000 patient-facing
hospital staff, or 40 percent of
the entire patient-facing hospital
workforce. The state expects
all ‘high risk’ hospital
staff will receive a vaccine
by the end of week two. Staff
at every hospital in New York
State, regardless of storage capabilities,
will have access to
the first allocation of a vaccine.
Following the vaccination
of ‘high risk’ health care workers,
the priority will shift to
all long-term and congregate
care residents and staff, EMS
and other health care workers.
Essential workers and the
general population will follow
those groups, and those with
the highest risk will be prioritized.
Additionally, the New York
National Guard has been selected
by the Department of
Defense as one of 16 pilot programs
across the nation to be
part of the limited distribution
of the Pfizer COVID-19
vaccine to military personnel.
Members of the New York
Army and Air National Guard
who serve as part of the state’s
COVID response efforts will
be eligible for the vaccine.
The race is on to get the public inoculated
War on Covid began this week
They will have access to the
vaccine by a hospital in their
region that does have that
storage capacity. After we
take care of all the high-risk
healthcare workers, we’ll
then move to all long-term
and congregate care staff and
residents. NEMS and other
healthcare workers and then
essential workers, general
population, starting with
those who have the highest
risk.
The federal government
offered a program that
New York State opted into,
whereby pharmacies will
do the vaccinations in nursing
homes, which will take
a burden off the nursing
home staff, and New York
has opted into that program.
It’s run by the federal government,
but basically they
subcontract with private
companies to do the vaccinations
in nursing homes.
Flu vaccine we do this way.
New York by participating
in that program, we provide
part of our allocation to that
program, so we actually
have enough vaccinations
to cover all residents. Part
of the future allocations
will ensure enough doses to
make sure we complete that
program. Completion is all
nursing home residents and
staff.
The Governor stated that
“We’re also pleased that the
New York National Guard
has been selected by the Department
of Defense as a pilot
program where they will
vaccinate people from the National
Guard who have been
working on our COVID-19
task force. “
Repeatedly the Governor
said that the fairness of the
vaccine is paramount, and I
mentioned it before, but we
have to make sure this nation
understands that we
can’t make the same mistake
twice. Death rate among
Blacks, twice what the death
rate among whites is from
Covid. Death rate among Latinos,
one and a half times
the death rate among whites.
We have to partner with
Black churches and Latino
churches, community
groups. This has to be a fair
distribution, and New York
will lead the way. We’ve
made these concerns known
to HHS, I’ve sent letters, I’ve
done speeches, I’m working
with civil rights groups
across the state. Made these
points to Congress on several
occasions, we’re working
with the NAACP, Mr. Johnson,
we’re working with the
Urban League, Mayor Marc
Morial. But this is a point
that we have to bring home
and we have to be successful.
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