May 13, 2021
New York Governor Requiring Vaccination For All SUNY and CUNY Schools
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had a briefing earlier in the week discussing the state of covid-19 and vaccination in New York. He started off the briefing by saying that the state’s current positivity rate is 1.43%. He went on to say, “When people say Covid is over, Covid is not over. 27 people died yesterday. 27 families are grieving today.”
Governor Cuomo then went into what he believed were the two groups left to get vaccinated: the youthful and the doubtful. The Governor describes the youthful population as the young population that haven’t had the opportunity to get vaccinated until now, when the FDA gave Pfizer emergency use authorization to give the vaccine to those ages 12 and up. The other group, the doubtful, he described as the ones that don’t want or are scared of needles or have been fed misinformation. The governor said both groups need to be handled differently.
The governor gave an update for where each age group is at with getting vaccinated. From ages 16–25, 24.7% have been vaccinated. For those ages 26 to 34, 35.4% have been vaccinated. Then in the age group of 35 to 44, 45.2% have been vaccinated. For those 45 to 54, 46.7% have been vaccinated. Then in the age group of 55 to 64, 59.4% have been vaccinated. The most popular group to get vaccinated is 65–74, which is at 73.6%. Then the final age group of 75+ is 66.5% vaccinated.
He said it was time for the New York Government to get creative on how they are going to get shots in arms. In the press briefing he made the announcement that all SUNY and CUNY schools will require vaccination for all in person students starting in the fall. The Governor said, “let’s set an example for the rest of the country,” adding he encourages private schools to do the same.
Governor Cuomo says he is increasing access to the vaccine as well, because starting Wednesday to Sunday, there are walk in appointments to get the Johnson and Johnson single shot vaccine at the following locations:
Ossining Metro-North from 3pm to 8pm
East 180th street — Bronx from 8am-1pm
Grand central station — Vanderbilt Hall from 8am to 1pm
Penn Station — 34th street corridor 3pm to 9pm
179th street — Jamaica from 8am to 1pm
Hempstead LIRR station from 3pm to 9 Pm
And finally Broadway Junction from 3pm to 8pm
The Governor says this is a test run, and if it is a success it will continue more often. He also told reporters that the reason the times are varied is to conduct an experiment to see which times and what locations got the most shots in arms. The governor went on to say that if you get a vaccine in one of the above locations you either get a 7 day METRO card or a free one way ticket on the Long Island railway.
Currently in New York State, 40%, or 7,972,909, are fully vaccinated and 48.8%, or 9,773,468, have received at least one dose to date.
