Governor Andrew Cuomo today cited Garnet Health/Catskills as the lowest performing healthcare facility in the MId-Hudson region when it comes to vaccinations of its employees - at just 42.7 percent.
This follows a report that Garnet's 16-member Board of Directors were offered the vaccine early even though they were not eligible at the time in late December.
The SullivanTimes yesterday reached out to six of those directors for comment. Today, this media outlet reached out to Rob Lee, spokesperson for Garnet, for a comment about the low vaccination rate of hospital employees.
Front line staff at the Catskills campus began receiving vaccination shots on December 23.
Garnet Health is waiting for its next shipment of vaccine before it can vaccinate those in the 1B population, according to a January 12 post on its Facebook page.
Cuomo today also blamed the federal government for increasing the eligibility of those who can receive the vaccine but decreasing the supply.
He said that next week's supply of vaccines is down to 250,000 from 300,000 vaccines per week.
And County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw said yesterday that her office only has 1,000 doses available.
The Gerry Fieldhouse at SUNY Sullivan is set to be utilized as a key vaccination center for the County beginning as early as January 25. It's unclear if the County will receive more doses by that time and how much.
