Ed Day: Politics Not Population Affecting NY Vaccine Sites

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Rockland County Executive Ed Day alleged Thursday that state health officials had not put a mass vaccination site in the county for political reasons, and called for political hardball himself.

"It just gets to a point where you say what the hell is it going to take?" Day said on Facebook. "While the media still happily reports the poetry of our Governor's stated claims that he wants to pull out all stops to get people in need vaccinated, despite repeated requests for a mass vaccination site, we in Rockland are still wanting and to be blunt ... getting the shaft."

Day said it was unfair that five mass vaccination sites have been opened on Long Island (including Jones Beach).

Long Island's two counties, Nassau and Suffolk have a combined population of 2.8 million people. Rockland County's population is 325,000. Both their county executives are Democrats. Day is a Republican.

The issue isn't that Rockland residents aren't getting the vaccine.

According to the New York Vaccine Tracker, 75,642 Rockland residents — 23.2 percent — had received at least one dose of vaccine, compared to 23.5 percent statewide, 22.7 percent in Suffolk County, and 28.6 percent in Nassau County as of Wednesday.

Day said that Rockland County deserved a mass vaccination site now because it had over the past year had the state's second-highest percentage of population testing positive for the coronavirus, and had had the highest COVID-19 death rate.

After saying that he hoped it wasn't true that the location of vaccination sites had been politicized, because "the last thing the Governor needs is more allegations of unnecessary deaths under his watch," Day called for political hardball himself.

"I am asking that our Senators and Assembly persons hold up each and every 'ask' the Governor has during this year's budget process until he agrees to establish a State vaccination site in Rockland," he said.

The Hudson region, whose seven counties have a combined population of 2.3 million, had one state mass vaccination site in White Plains until recently, while Long Island had two.

Two more mass vaccination sites were opened in Middletown and New Palz at the same time as three more were opened on Long Island.

SEE:

• New York To Open 2 New Hudson Valley Mass Vaccination Sites
• 3 Mass Vaccination Sites Opening On LI

A state mass vaccination site has been opened in Yonkers for Westchester residents only.

The state has also been opening "pop-up" clinics temporarily in various communities in Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, Westchester and Ulster counties.

Vaccine doses are also allocated to county health departments and to pharmacies, hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers in all seven counties.

WMCHealth, the regional hub for the vaccine rollout, offers an interactive directory to assist Hudson Valley residents with accessing coronavirus vaccination.

Rockland County lists locations weekly where vaccine doses have been allocated locally.

More than 12 million New Yorkers are currently eligible for the vaccine. Eligible groups include doctors, nurses and health care workers, people age 60 and over, first responders, teachers, public transit workers, grocery store workers, public safety workers and New Yorkers with underlying conditions. As of Wednesday, the list expanded to include those non-profit workers, public employees, and essential in-person building service workers who provide public-facing services.

"New York has administered 7 million vaccine shots to eligible New Yorkers, which is great progress," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news briefing Thursday morning. "We will continue to move our vaccination progress forward as fast as supply allows."