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New York City will receive its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines next week pending federal approval, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
"We are 10 months into this crisis. But for the first time, we can really see the end in sight," de Blasio told reporters during a press conference. "Why? Because the vaccine is coming next week. Next week, the vaccine will be here in New York City, because the vaccine is being produced in huge quantities for this city and for this whole country."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously said the state would receive 170,000 doses from the drug maker Pfizer on Dec. 15 once the vaccine cleared the necessary hurdles. In news releases, Pfizer has said that its vaccine is safe and 95% effective. Later this month, Cuomo said, the state expects to receive additional vaccines from Moderna, another drug maker which has likewise said in news releases that its vaccine is safe and nearly 95% effective.
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New York City anticipates receiving around 480,000 doses by the beginning of January, Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for de Blasio, told the New York Times. Roughly half will be Pfizer's vaccine and the other half will be from Moderna.
Pfizer has said it expects to have produced enough doses for 25 million Americans by the end of 2020, while Moderna has said it expects to produce enough for more than 20 million individuals in the U.S. market. Both companies still need to receive FDA approval.
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An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that the first people to receive the vaccine should be health care workers and nursing home residents and staff. Neidhardt said the 480,000 expected doses would go first to health care workers performing high-risk activities, like working on coronavirus floors at hospitals, and people living and working in nursing homes.
The state has about 85,000 residents living in nursing homes, according to the governor's office, and more than 800,000 "critical health care workers."
The next groups that will receive the vaccine will be "other frontline essential workers, medically high-risk individuals and individuals over 65," the state told the CDC.
New York City on Monday reported a 5.24% positivity rate on a seven-day rolling average through Sunday, according to the most recent data.
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