New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Monday that he would hit hospitals in his state with fines of up to $100,000 and cut them off entirely from receiving any more doses if they do not distribute the allotted supply of coronavirus vaccines within a week of receiving it.
Cuomo blamed hospitals for the slow vaccine rollout amid growing concerns that his administration’s strict prioritization guidelines for who can get the vaccine could be slowing down the process. “The hospitals are doing the administration, and that was purposeful,” Cuomo said. “This is a management issue of the hospitals. They have to move the vaccine, and they have to move the vaccine faster.”
“If you have been given an allocation and you’ve only used a third of the allocation, then you shouldn’t have the allocation. We have options,” he continued. “If you can’t do that within seven days, then just raise your hand and say, ‘I can’t do this.’ Fine, we’ll go to a different hospital. We know what hospitals are better at administering it.”
From now on, hospitals will face fines of up to $100,000 if they do not use all their doses within a week of receiving them, Cuomo added.
“It’s chaos out there,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said, according to the New York Post. “Their state has no idea what it’s doing. The Cuomo handling of the vaccine is blithering incompetence.”