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Though doses of the long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine are making their way around the country, the rollout is moving slowly and there have been countless reports of doses being thrown away in situations that could have been avoided, including labeling errors. Now, states such as New York, California and Florida, are threatening to penalize providers that are not efficiently and appropriately distributing vaccine doses.
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More than 15 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the country so far, but only about 4.5 million people have received their first dose, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
In New York, 274,713 people have received the first dose of the vaccine out of the 895,925 doses distributed to the state. This represents a vaccination rate of 1,412 per 100,000 people, according to the data.
On Sunday, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker issued a letter to vaccine providers outlining expectations for distribution, including requiring that all vaccine doses in the providers’ inventory prior to Jan. 4 be administered to eligible recipients by Jan. 7.
“Any doses that are not administered by end of day on January 7 will be redistributed to another facility and future allocations to such facilities will be limited, and possibly eliminated,” the letter reads.
At a news conference Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that going forward, facilities in the state must administer their entire vaccine allotment within seven days of receiving it or risk facing a fine of up to $100,000.
In addition, providers “who do not comply or are found to be seriously deficient” may incur more serious sanctions and fines, including being disqualified from future vaccine distribution.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made similar remarks at a press conference Monday, stating that “hospitals that do not do a good job of getting the vaccine out will have their allocations transferred to hospitals that are doing a good job in getting the vaccine out.”
Though he did not threaten to levy fines, DeSantis said that hospitals have been asked to submit their vaccine distribution plans to the state.
“We do not want a vaccine to just be idle at some hospital system,” he said.
Florida’s vaccination rate is similar to New York’s at 1,232 per 100,000 people. The state received 1.13 million doses of the vaccine, but only 264,512 Floridians have gotten their first dose, CDC data shows.
In California — where the current Covid-19 vaccination rate is 1,143 per 100,000 people — Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed that healthcare providers that violate priority guidelines for vaccine distribution will have their licenses revoked.
“I just want to make this crystal clear,” he said at a news conference last week. “If you skip the line or you intend to skip the line, you will be sanctioned, you will lose your license.”
California’s vaccine distribution plan is divided into three phases, beginning with vaccinating healthcare workers and long-term care residents.
The governor’s office plans to work with the California Medical Association to create an enforcement plan “to make sure that someone’s not passing a few vials over to their cousin or aunt or uncle, or God forbid, making a buck or two on the backs of a vaccine that should be distributed to someone who is at high risk or at higher need,” Newsom said.
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