Cuomo: COVID-19 Pandemic Won’t End in New York Until ‘Summer’
Despite a COVID-19 vaccine rolling out, Gov. Cuomo is requesting patience and told New Yorker's the pandemic won't be over until the summer.
On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced New York health officials reviewed and approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. He added the independent vaccine review task force "unanimously" approved the vaccine.
"New York State's independent COVID-19 Clinical Advisory Task Force — made up of public health experts — convened to review the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. They voted unanimously to approve of the FDA panel's decision. The vaccine is almost here," Cuomo said.
On Sunday, the first shipments of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine have left Pfizer’s facility near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
"Hope is on the way and it’s departing from Kalamazoo, Michigan," Cuomo tweeted while sharing a video of FedEx and UPS trucks carrying the vaccine leaving Pfizer's Michigan facility. "Stay #NewYorkTough. We are getting closer to the finish line."
Cuomo also announced New York is expected to receive 346,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine around December 21 on top of the initial 170,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine.
"Today is one of those days where you want to say, I’ve had it with this. Go ahead and say it. The vaccine is on its way. We just need to stay Tougher than COVID for a while longer," he said.
Cuomo believes the pandemic won't be over until the "summer" when New York hits a "critical mass" of people vaccinated.
"It's been quite the journey and the journey isn't over. It's not really going to be over until the summer and we hit critical mass with the vaccination."
Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan) introduced a bill in the New York State Assembly that would require all New Yorkers, who aren't medical exempt, to get a COVID-19 vaccine.