N.Y. to Fine Hospitals that Fail to Use Up Vaccines

According to this article from Modern Healthcare, New York’s governor threatened to fine hospitals up to $100,000 if they don’t finish their first round of vaccinations by the end of the week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said hospitals have been receiving vaccines over the past three weeks as part of a program prioritizing frontline medical workers. Apparently, hospitals have only administered the first dose of 46% of their allocated vaccines, which amounts to roughly 300,000 out of roughly 650,000 allocated doses so far.

“This is a management issue,” Cuomo said in a Monday teleconference call with reporters. “They have to move the vaccine and they have to move the vaccine faster. “The governor also threatened to stop sending the vaccine to hospitals that don’t use their share promptly.

Hospitalizations in New York have doubled since early December, to 8,251 as of Sunday. The state is averaging 13,687 daily new cases over the past seven days, up 27% from a week ago.