$5.5 Million Awarded to Hispanic Federation, $5.5 Million Awarded to Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, $1 Million Awarded to New York Immigration Coalition, $1 Million Awarded to Asian American Federation, $1 Million Awarded to Charles B. Wang Community Center, $1 Million Awarded to APICHA Community Health Center
Funds to Strengthen Communication, Expand Public Education and Enhance Ongoing Outreach Efforts
New Ad Urges New Yorkers Across the State to Get Vaccinated
Governor Cuomo: "Those who are vaccinated reduce the risk of hospitalization by 94%. So if you're vaccinated, you are much, much less likely to get the COVID virus to begin with. And if you get it, it is not as severe and you're not hospitalized. Those are the facts. What we're looking at is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. A pandemic of that 25% of the population that is still refuse to get the vaccine."
Governor Cuomo: "Every scientist, every health professional, everybody has said get a vaccine. I don't know that you can communicate any more than we have communicated how important it isWe need a different approach. And the approach has to be community-based organizations who can have conversations in the community. With people who know them, who culturally know them, who know their issues and their fears. And it almost has to be a one-on-one conversation with that 25 percent, because it's not going to be a top down message. It has to be someone who speaks their language literally and figuratively and says, let's talk about this. Tell me what you're worried about. Tell me what your fear is. And then addresses that with facts."
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the allocation of $15 million from the New York State budget to promote vaccination in communities across the state that were hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be used to strengthen communication, expand public education and enhance ongoing outreach efforts throughout diverse communities.
The Governor also announced a new ad urging New Yorkers across the state to get vaccinated.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:
Good morning, all. Pleasure to be with you. Let me thank you for being here. More, let me thank you for what you're going to do to help us, help this state, help all the people in this state. We see the COVID numbers and we see the reality. And we know what we have to do.
Let's thank the Yankees and their president, Randy Levine. Let's give them a big round of applause. They have really gone above and beyond. This has been a vaccination site for months. You normally don't have a baseball stadium as a vaccination site. I remember the first conversation when I called the Yankees and asked them about it. It was an unusual request, but I've made a lot of unusual requests as governor over this past year, but they stepped right up. They've been great. They really have been great.
To my left, Jennifer Jones Austin who needs no introduction from me. She's the CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, but she has a long history in government and community service. Let's give her a round of applause.
Murad Awawdeh is to her left. He's the Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition. We thank him very much for being here. Thank you.
To my right, star Legal Counsel through all of the COVID chaos, Beth Garvey. Thank you, Beth.
Frankie Miranda who's the President of the Hispanic Federation. We thank you very much for what they've done.
Jo-Ann Yoo. Joanne, thank you so much for everything you've done. She's the Executive Director of the Asian Society. So thank you very much.
I also want acknowledge Kenneth Shieh who's here, the Chief Strategy Officer for the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center. Therese Rodriguez, CEO of Apicha Community Health Center. We also have Pat Wang, President of Health First. Thank you very much.
And we're joined by Dominique Sharpton who's the Director of Membership for the National Action Network and Ashley Sharpton, Founder and Director of National Action Network Youth Huddle. Let's give them a round of applause.
From my team, we have Rossana Rosado the great New York Secretary of State. Thank you, Rossana.
And Vanessa Gibson, Council Member and the incoming President of the Bronx.
Okay. Let's talk about today and where we are. Let's start with the good news. It's Monday. We can start with a good news on a Monday. It was a nice weekend. Good news is we have a birthday coming up. Today. Whose birthday is it today? It is the birthday of New York State, which turns 233 years old today from when we ratified the constitution. I think New York State looks good for 233 years old, don't you? Let's give New York State a round of applause.
And the good news is that 75% of adults in New York have been vaccinated. 75%. When the president first set 70% as a goal I can't tell you how frightening that was for us. 70% of the people in this state had to receive a vaccine. Seemed almost impossible, right? The diversity of this state, but we hit the 70% and we're now up to about 75%.
So that is really, really great news that New Yorkers stepped up and New Yorker stepped forward. That we could administer the vaccine to that many people and many of the people in this room made that possible because everyone has to be deployed to do this. But New York did it. New York did it, and I'm proud of the state. And I'm proud of what everyone in this room has done to make that a reality.
Well then what's the bad news? Bad news is when you do 75% it means 25% have not received the vaccine. And 25% may be a relatively small number, but it is a lot of people. 3.5 million unvaccinated people. These numbers are hard to put into context.
3.5 million is a lot of people. 3.5 million is larger than 21 states' total population. Think about that. We have an unvaccinated population larger than the entire population of 21 states. And then when you put this COVID Delta variant, which is transmitted much easier than the normal COVID virus, you put that variant together with 3.5 million people that spells spread of COVID. That is what is happening. We know that's what's happening. We see it in the numbers. 1900 positives yesterday, 1900 new COVID positive cases. Well, how does that compare to where we were? Last month, 346. Numbers don't lie. 346 to 1900 in just one month. And remember all the work we did to get here.
72% of the new positives, linked to the Delta variant. It is what they say it is. It is spreading faster than the normal COVID virus. The vaccines are working. Only 0.15 vaccinated New Yorkers have been infected by the COVID Delta variant. Think about that. Only 0.15 of the people who received the vaccines. The vaccines work, they work and it's proven in the numbers.
Those who are vaccinated reduce the risk of hospitalization by 94%. So if you're vaccinated, you are much, much less likely to get the COVID virus to begin with. And if you get it, it is not as severe and you're not hospitalized. Those are the facts.
What we're looking at is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. A pandemic of that 25% of the population that is still refuse to get the vaccine. So the problem now is vaccine hesitancy. We've had a lot of problems that we had to overcome over the past year. First, we couldn't get the tests. Remember? Then we got the tests, but we couldn't get the swabs. Then we couldn't get enough tests. Then we couldn't find enough places to put out the tests. Then we couldn't get enough vaccine. Then we couldn't get the vaccines distributed fast enough. All of that has been done. We're now closing vaccine sites. Why? Because there's no demand for the vaccine compared to the number of places that we have giving out the vaccine.
The problem now is vaccine hesitancy. They don't want to take the vaccine. And look, I've had thousands of these conversations. I get it. I truly get it. Some people, communities of color, have had really horrific historic experiences with vaccines. It is true. Tuskegee experiment. It is true. So the cynicism, the skepticism, some people ideologically, well, government says we should do this. I think it's all a government conspiracy. I don't think there is any such thing as COVID. We've all had all the conversations and then some people are just nervous of the vaccine. Well, it was created quickly. I don't know if they fully tested it.
I get it. These are not arguments that I am unsympathetic to, but on balance, they don't make sense.
There's no logical theory that anyone can advance now that says it's more logical not to take the vaccine than to take the vaccine. There's no logic to that argument. Well, we don't know the long-term consequences of the vaccine. We don't know what's going to happen a year or two or three or four down the road. Yeah. But you don't know what's going to happen on the long-term consequences of COVID either, do you? And you know that there's information about what they call long haul syndrome. People who get COVID and they don't just get better in two weeks to three weeks to four weeks. And they have lingering symptoms and nobody can tell you that COVID in two years, in three years and four years inside the body, isn't going to come back as something else, right?
Once that virus is in your body, it's there and it can have other manifestation in years to come. Nobody can tell you today what it means to have COVID two years, five years. So, yes, we don't know the long-term consequences of the vaccine, but we don't know the long-term consequences of COVID either. And I would rather take my chances with the long-term consequences of the vaccine than with the long-term consequences of COVID.
And then some people are just in denial. Oh, this is going to come, and this is going to go and there's no real problem. This is all the media and a political creation. Denial does not work as a strategy. Denial does not work in life. If you deny a problem, you are never going to solve it. If you deny that you have an issue, whatever it is, you're never going to solve it. And you'll condemned to living with it.
Some states took the course of denial. Some political theories to this course of denial, it's not a problem. We're just going to live our lives. We're not going to succumb to COVID. We're just going to go out there and live our lives. Florida now has the highest number of cases of COVID and it's growing, right? Why? Because denial doesn't work. We know that for a fact.
What do we do? Get smart target the communities that have high COVID spread and a low vaccination rate. Be smart. We have the data. We're looking for 25 percent of the population that has been unvaccinated. Target that population and targeted in areas where you're seeing COVID spread and you know you have a low vaccination rate. We have ZIP code across the state -117 zip codes. Only about 6.7 percent of the state has new positive cases above the average and the vaccination rate below the state average. So we're focusing on those 117 zip codes. In New York City, Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn. Tends to be communities of color, tends to be poorer communities, tends to be communities with less access to healthcare. And over 61 percent of those ZIP codes in the state are in New York City, which is not surprising because New York city has the larger population. You go to Long Island, 21 zip codes, 18 percent. And that's where the 25 percent of the population lives. That's where COVID spreading. That's where the vaccination rate is low. That, my friends, is what we have to target. We know where this is happening and where this is.
Other parts of the state it's in the mid-Hudson, it's all over the state, but we know exactly where it is by ZIP code. And it is Capital Region and Central New York and mid-Hudson. It is the Mohawk Valley. It is the North Country, It is the Southern Tier. It's everywhere, but it's targeted and it's focused. We have communicated this message every way possible. You turn on the TV, you see everyone saying the same thing. President Biden says you have to get a vaccine. Every doctor you've ever could name has said get a vaccine.
Every scientist, every health professional, everybody has said get a vaccine. I don't know that you can communicate any more than we have communicated how important it is. They get a vaccine I've said it 987,000. My children keep count of how many times I tell them something. Not that it sinks in or they listen, but they keep count of how many times I say something. We need a different approach. And the approach has to be community-based organizations who can have conversations in the community. With people who know them, who culturally know them, who know their issues and their fears. And it almost has to be a one-on-one conversation with that 25 percent, because it's not going to be a top down message. It has to be someone who speaks their language literally and figuratively and says, let's talk about this. Tell me what you're worried about. Tell me what your fear is. And then addresses that with facts.
And that's what we're going to start doing today. We have great community organizations that are organized all across the state, and we're going to fund them to go out and literally have these conversations in these communities, Hispanic Federation, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, the New York Immigration Coalition, the Asian American Federation. The Charles B. Wang community center, Apicha Community Health. They are going to organize to get into these communities door-to-door and have these conversations with people in the community to get those numbers up. We're also going to do another new public service announcement that shows New Yorkers, other New Yorkers and what we've done in an attempt to communicate and we'll show you that now.
Just in closing before I turn it over to my guests, we cannot go through what we went through over the past year. We can't. We can't, I can't, the economy can't, society can't - we can't go through it again. We did have the highest infection rate because we were attacked by COVID before we knew COVID was ever here. Remember what happened to us. Everybody was saying COVID was in China, President Trump, China, China, China, China. COVID left China. It went to Europe and it was in Italy and France and Spain, and nobody knew it. And all those flights were coming into JFK and were coming into Newark Airport and landing in LaGuardia and COVID was coming here for months and no one knew it.
Then when we discovered it, it was too late. We had COVID cases before they knew it was COVID and then it just took off on us. That's why we had the highest infection rate and we were alone. It was like a New York only phenomenon. I would talk to these other governors and they would said, well, I don't know what's going on in New York, but we don't have that here. It wasn't because of us, wasn't something about our immune system. It's just that it came here first and we had to fight back from that highest infection rates and it was hard and it was painful and we lost a lot of loved ones all along the way. We learned a lot, but we cannot now go back to where we were.
I am telling you, as I sit here, I have told you the facts on COVID from day one, whether they were easy, whether they were hard, I told you the truth. While a lot of people we're talking politics and a lot of people were talking theory and a lot of people were trying to deny because they didn't want to deliver bad news, I told you the truth. You know why? Because I believe in you, I believe in New York. I believe if they get the truth and if they get the facts, they will do the right thing. I am a lifelong New Yorker. I know New Yorkers, give them the facts. Yeah, but the facts are ugly. Doesn't matter. Give them the facts and they will do the right thing.
I am telling you as I sit here today, if we do not make progress on vaccinating that unvaccinated population, 25 percent, with the Delta variant, you're going to see the numbers go up. That is a large number and we're going to lose lives and it will be disruptive and we cannot let that happen. I'll do everything I can, but you know what it basically comes down to for me, is giving you the facts and you the truth so you can do what you need to do.
Who brought us from the highest rate of infection to the lowest? Not me. New Yorkers did because they got the facts and they did the right thing. We have to do the same thing here. Everybody's saying, oh the numbers are going up. The numbers are going up. The numbers going up. Yes. The numbers are going up. Do something about it. Do something about it. That's what makes us different as New Yorkers because we act we're not passive. We're not just going to sit there and let it happen to us. We see the problem coming. We see the cloud on the horizon. We see where it's moving. Let's get to work together. As New Yorkers, recognize our individual responsibility and get this job done.
That's what I mean by New York Tough. Everybody says, oh, you New Yorkers. You're tough, you're tough. When I was in the federal government, in the Clinton administration, I've worked in every state in the United States. Somehow they would figure out that I was from New York. I don't know how they did that. I think maybe it was my tie used to give me away. But they would figure it out that I was from New York and they'd say, oh you New Yorkers. You, you guys are tough. Yeah we're tough but we're tough in a good way. We're not tough in a bad way. We're tough in a good way. You have to be a little tough to live in this town, but we're tough in a way that makes us smart and it makes us united. Otherwise, this doesn't work unless we're united.
People from all over the globe in one place, we're united and we're disciplined. When we have to get a job done, we do it. And we're loving. We care about each other. I wear a mask because I care about you. I get a vaccine because I care about you. We understand that we are all in this together. We understand that as goes, one goes all in this city where we all live together. And in this state where we all live together. We have to get back to work. We have to get back to work and we have to get back to work now. We have to spread this message, or we're going to spread the virus. We have to get in those communities and we have to knock on those doors and we have to convince people and put them in a car and drive them and get that vaccine in their arm. That is the mission.
While everyone else in the country is saying, oh, the sky is falling, the numbers are going up New Yorkers are saying yeah that means we're going to get ourselves in gear and we're going to get the job done. The people who are with us today will be on the front lines and the people who were in this room will be on the front lines and I will be there with you. We went from the highest infection rate to the lowest. Now let's show this nation how to stop the spread of COVID among an unvaccinated population.
If anybody can do it, New York can do it. And we will. Thank you.
I'm going to turn it over to a person who I admire very, very much. She's been through many critical situations in her leadership has always shown New York a light, Jennifer Jones Austin.
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