Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Receives Flu Shot to Remind New Yorkers to Get Vaccinated as Flu Season Begins

Earlier today while holding a COVID briefing, Governor Kathy Hochul received the flu shot and released a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) encouraging New Yorkers to get both a flu and COVID-19 vaccine this season. The COVID-19 vaccine and/or a booster dose can be received at the same time as the seasonal flu shot. Flu season occurs primarily from October through May, often peaking between December and February.

VIDEO of the Governor's briefing is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO is available here.

PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

First of all, we're very excited to make some announcements this morning but first we really want to make sure we're doing everything we can to prepare for the future and that involved a conversation I had yesterday with the White House. Jeff Zients has been very engaged with the governors as well as a separate conversation we had later in the day where we talked about the vaccine rollout but he gave me some really good news which he wanted me to know early on, that the border would be open with Canada.

This is good news, particularly for the communities along Western New York, the northern border, who really are so integrated with the Canadian communities and its neighbors. It's just crossing a bridge. It's like we cross a bridge from here to anywhere in the city. It's the same as many of these communities. So I applaud their decision to reopen the border. It'll be coinciding with the opening of the international traffic on flights. I had spoken to him earlier about the timing. I said it would not make sense to have people be able to fly in from Toronto, but not be able to drive across the border from Buffalo. So they heard from other governors and elected officials on that as well, so that is very, very good news that something I've raised since I took office August 24, and so that's good.

We also have to make sure our pediatricians are preparing for the opportunity to administer the vaccine to children. This is going to be a game changer for us. There is so much anxiety among parents right now as we saw increases, more so in on other parts of the country but certainly in our own state, increases in the number of children getting this virus. And it's a very frightening thing. I'm a parent. All you are hardwired to do is to protect your kids and make sure they're okay and this is something that has been a source of anxiety for many and so we are working very closely with our pediatricians. We're going to have a whole strategy. I'll be doing a Zoom call with pediatricians and all the other individuals involved in the decision to get the vaccine available and make sure it's plentiful for all the pediatricians' offices.

One thing I did raise with the White House was that one of the challenges is that the way that the vaccines had been distributed before was in large bulk and that doesn't work for a pediatrician who is going to want to schedule appointments and have their normal physicals and visits with kids. So they are going to be packaging them in smaller batches which is going to make a lot more sense. So getting them involved and engaging all the different places, including schools - we've talking to school districts about the availability of administrating the shot for children in schools as well.

So we're going to be doing a lot of work now that we have the confirmation that this is inevitable. It's going to happen. It's just a question on timing but we will be more than prepared here in the State of New York to deal with that. So we're going to be asking pediatricians to enroll in our program. We're going to make sure that they have the supply, and again, I'm going to be working with all of them and anybody who will help us get this out. And some parents will want their kids to get it at the local pharmacy too. That's fine. They'll have plenty of supply as well. So pediatricians, start getting ready.

It's coming. It's coming and it's not a second too soon for us.

I also want to mention that there was a disappointing decision yesterday pertaining to our vaccine mandate, which I will stand behind any day of the week. We believe it worked. It has had a dramatic effect on our ability to protect people, particularly health care workers.

You've heard me say this over and over, when someone is sick and they go into an urgent care center or they go into a hospital, they are in need of help because they're in a vulnerable physical state. They need to know that the person taking care of them will not pass on this deadly virus to them or their family members. And that has been the whole objective behind this mandate. I've said it's not something we wanted to do. It's something that this pandemic has forced us to do, and with the results we're looking for. So my responsibility has always been to protect the people of this state. I will be standing behind this mandate and I will make sure that we are taking legal steps. We will be appealing this in the second circuit. We'll be working on those papers right now, working with the Attorney General's office as well. So let's just talk about what people are saying about this. Religious leaders are saying, get vaccinated and here's just some quotes from all the religious leaders. If someone needs more confirmation, if they're going to use the religious exemption, and I think the courts ought to pay attention to this too, what the religious leaders are saying is that they want people to get vaccinated. It's simple and we just want to make sure that people are safe and doing the smartest thing we can, which is getting vaccinated. So I don't need to read all those to you, but that's a broad representation of many of the religious communities represented here in the State of New York. And I want to thank the faith leaders for doing this. They have stepped up. I have heard from all of them that they support what we are doing and they will back us up. So thank you to them as well.

We hit a milestone Friday. I was very excited. I was sitting, that would be my Albany office, but we sat there and I saw the numbers pop up. I knew they were coming. I knew they were coming. And when the dashboard hit 85, I was like, yes! Eighty-five percent of New Yorkers over 18 have had at least one dose of the vaccine which is quite extraordinary and I'm really excited about that. Everybody knows. We don't rest on our laurels even a second. So the next words were, let's hit 90 and let's keep it going. And I believe we can achieve that.

The requirements that we've had, a lot of questions before we hit another milestone Friday, which was our deadline for home health care workers and adult care facilities for everyone who works in those facilities to be vaccinated. So what's it been in the takeaway? I think the numbers speak for themselves. Look where we were August 24, but the date you may or may not remember, it's the date I became your governor. And I've been tracking since then what we've been doing with nursing homes. You can see the rate going from 71 percent to 92 percent, at least one dose. That's quite extraordinary. That's the active staff. I want to point that those are active staff members. Hospitals, 96, up from 77. I think that the mandates have brought people to the right decision and you can see that bearing out in what we have right here. And also, adult care facilities - we went from 77 percent up to 95. That's pretty high, and also home health care, we went from 83 percent to 86 on the day of the mandate, but now the active staff now are at about 94 percent.

So I hear about this a lot from everybody. I was literally walking out of Melba's restaurant in Harlem a couple of nights ago and I was approached by a woman on the street who says, I had to get my vaccine last night. You made me do it. Yeah, I did. And she says, it hurt, and I said, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry, but you're going to be glad in the long run. And she was very nice and we just had a nice conversation. She says, I'm okay. I just want to let you know I did it. I did do it. And I said, thank you for doing it.

So everybody has been affected and the people who have, I know for some that was an easy decision. They couldn't wait to get vaccinated. Most of us are in that category. For those who are more reluctant and had to come to this, you know, for a variety of reasons, I thank them as well. I truly thank them as well. They'll be the reason we get up to 90 before too long. And then the whole purpose is not to have mandates - it's to get us through this pandemic. We are all sick and tired of this. We want to say it's over. And this is the way we get to that point.

One issue that has been raised is the staffing issues related to this mandate and I want to be clear when I'm talking about the numbers. We have numbers that show we've had a 3 percent total workforce reduction in these categories. I know this has been a question and that includes hospitals, nursing homes, adult and home care. We also have about 4.5 percent who are still waiting to get vaccinated who are in the category and they've made plans to get vaccinated soon. So you know, it's a broad number. It includes people who've been terminated, resignations, people just decided to retire at the time, but also people who are on furlough who are waiting to see the outcome of the litigation. So it is still a fluid number and we'll get data when we can, but right now we're at about a 3 percent workforce reduction as a result of these mandates but look how many people are vaccinated and the vast majority of people are on their jobs, despite what we have been told by everyone early on, that it's just going to be impossible to implement this. People stepped up when they needed to and I'm grateful for that.

One thing I've recognized as I monitored the numbers coming through as you do on our various sites - it's just too complicated. You shouldn't have to have a medical degree to figure out what is going on with the state of play, with COVID in your own community. So we are launching a new data set hub where you can find all the dashboards and data sets on one place very easily and we're going to continue giving people a fuller picture and more transparency when it comes to all the data that we have. So you're getting it as soon as we have a clear picture. It's all about improving transparency.

We still have some disparity in the regions as we've been talking about for a while and you know what we're talking about. It's the North Country, it's Mohawk Valley, it's Central New York as well. But some people have said that that number is not exactly accurate because some communities may test more than others. So I will take that. So let's give another way of looking at the numbers so we can assess exactly what's going on in different parts of our state. And that would be to look at the per 100,000 average and statewide you see the numbers reflect the percentages, but this gives you a better idea of exactly how many people based on per hundred thousand.

So what we're going to do in those areas that we've identified as being higher than 4 percent - we're going to deploy more pop-ups, we're going to have more #VaxtoSchoolpop-ups, we're going to boost education outreach, and I want you to know we are in regular communication with the local health departments. They know that we are there to help. We are there to supplement and to reinforce the messages and they've been tremendous partners, again, turning upside down the framework of the past which was more Albany-driven and Department of Health-driven out of Albany. We are there to help and we have been helping, but I also want to continue to empower local governments, where they have hundreds of employees who literally trained for years to be ready for something like this and why not liberate them to do what they do best. And so we are in constant communication with them and that is working out well. As you see, most of the state is in a good place.

But also you talk about the numbers, percentage per 100,000, the real picture is how sick people are getting and that would be reflected in the daily hospitalizations. And we are continuing to see hospitalizations flatten. As you know me, I am not spiking a football anytime soon because we also saw, as I mentioned a dozen times now, what happened with the fall last year. Different scenario, more people are vaccinated, but also I walk the streets, I walked over this morning, I was out walking last night - a lot of people are dining outdoors and I love when I walk the streets of Manhattan. People were wearing masks outside. I mean, that's why we have such a low infection rate here. It's about 1.3 percent, but people are going to start being indoors. People in Buffalo, people in Plattsburgh probably not going to do a lot of outdoor dining in January.

So the reality is people are going indoors and that could have an effect on the infection rate. Delta is what we're dealing with. Delta may or may not be flattening. I'm not going to say it is, but I like the way that is [going]. At least we're not going upward and think that's a modified good news story.

Again, we've reached 85 percent, 85.1. We have to bump up the numbers among young people and remind people to get their second dose. If you've already had your first one, it's not fully effective until you get that second dose and then we get into wanting boosters as well. So I'll talk about that in a minute.

Breakthrough infections creeping up a little bit, but again, the number that is most important, people who are vaccinated, who contracted again tend to be showing lesser symptoms, more like a flu for a day or two or barely aware of it. I've been with people, found out later, who told me that they didn't show any symptoms at all. So there are asymptomatic cases of having this. You may be fine but you may have spread it to your mother or your grandmother. And that's what we we have to be vigilant about.

Hospitalizations - when we first started tracking this for about 0.05 percent, that is a good situation right now to know that that many people are not succumbing to this and having to be hospitalized.

Boosters - all about the boosters. Let's boost the boosters. We sent text messages to over 450,000 people to let them know that it's time to get your booster shot. I, fortunately or unfortunately, I'm still too young for this, but at some point, and I said this to the White House - could we just make these more widely available? Everybody who has been vaccinated really wants to make sure that they are fortified heading into the winter season. So I will continue to promote the boosters. You can sign up to get it now. Should have gotten your message. If you're vaccinated at a non-State-run site you probably received a reminder from your provider as well. So let's get people boosted for boosters.

Again, I'll just reinforce the classifications that are eligible. It's still 65 and older, underlying health conditions, and people who live in high-risk settings, high-risk jobs as well. So no reason not to do this. The lines are not long. It is such a different dynamic from what we dealt with last year, when there was such a scarcity of supply and a lot of stress around that. It's not there anymore.

Now we talked about the groups that are eligible. I've given you this before, but if you can reinforce that, that's very helpful to us. And we're tracking now the booster shots that have been administered. Almost 447,000 additional doses have been given. Some of these people were able to get it because they were in vulnerable categories before the time that Pfizer okayed it, which was September 24, I believe. But this is a cumulative number to show exactly how many people have received boosters. Again, just trying to give you as much clarity, give the public every bit of data as we receive it.

Flu season is here. Yeah. How about that? Last year, I don't know a lot of people got the flu because everybody wore their masks and that was good. With lesser restrictions, we want to make sure that everybody's protected, that you don't end up getting the flu or COVID or both, which is the worst case scenario. So I encourage people to keep wearing your mask, good hand hygiene, and we're going to be starting a PSA. A very exciting announcement is to see this, and then we'll follow with something else that we're going to do. Here's a sneak preview.

[PSA Plays]

So in order to practice what I preach, I'm going to get a flu shot. And he promised me it would not hurt. Right? I made sure I wore the mask so you wouldn't see whether I winced or not. I smiled through the whole thing, just so you know.