New York lags behind Florida in its efforts to administer the coronavirus vaccine, federal data show, despite Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio boasting of Empire State’s best plan.
Sunshine State has so far administered vaccines at a rate of 823 per 100,000 residents, according to the online tracker of the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York administered vaccines to 723 per 100,000 residents, a rate about 14 percent slower than the Florida rate, the tracker said.
Tracking dates are current as of December 30, due to reporting delays during the holiday.
The figures call into question De Blasio’s bold claim that 1 million New Yorkers were vaccinated in January – even though the state has so far administered less than a third of the doses at hand.
Asked earlier this week about a delay in launching the vaccine to the NYPD, de Blasio acknowledged that the city could move faster if there were no strict state restrictions on who can get shot when.
“It’s something we do based on state guidelines, and we’re in constant communication with the state about it,” he said in part during a news briefing Tuesday. “Without a doubt, if we are granted permission, we can move very quickly.”
Among the cases that highlight the disparity is that of Nathan Burkan Jr. and Greg Heinrich.
Burkan Jr., an 89-year-old Manhattanite who suffered from congestive heart failure and stroke, told The Post that he could not receive the vaccine despite the advanced risk of the disease.
“It simply came to my notice then [who is 83] I would like to receive the vaccine now, “he said.
But his daughter-in-law, Heinrich, simply went to his local library in Clermont, Florida, to get the recent vaccine – without even getting out of the car.
“I got out of the car window and shot myself,” Heinrich, 72, told The Post about his experience shooting. “I didn’t have to get out of the car.”
Although the wait was long – about three hours – he simply had to relax in the car until a nurse kicked him, then he was on his way.
“Was it worth the wait?” Absolutely! “He said.” It was painless. “
Heinrich said it is wrong for New York to slow down the distribution of the vaccine to the detriment of some of the most at risk, such as Burkan Jr.
“If people like me can get the vaccine in Florida, why can’t they get it in New York?” he asked. “People aged 65 and over are much more vulnerable than younger people.”