Brooklyn COVID-19 Numbers: Vaccines Are Coming For The Most Vulnerable In December

The vaccines are coming. The first doses are expected to arrive in the city just 12 days from now, Mayor Bill de Blasio said this morning. It will first go for the frontline medical workers and the elderly.

The rest of us need to batten down and keep wearing those masks, washing those hands, and staying apart as the latest numbers are still climbing in the wrong direction.

According to numbers from the Governor, Brooklyn’s 7-day positivity is now up at 3.5% borough-wide. Of the 24,518 residents tested, over one thousand – 1,055 – received positive COVID results yesterday, 4.3%.

Citywide, Governor says, of the 81,397 tested, 3,307 were positive yesterday or 4.1%. That brings the city’s 7-day positivity to 3.6%.

About those Vaccines:

the city expects the first shipments as early as Dec. 15th for the Pfizer vaccine shipments, which require special refrigeration. Moderna vaccine shipments that can be stored in regular refrigerators are expected to come a week later, on Dec. 22nd.

“We are working closely with the State of New York on a distribution plan with an important focus on those who have the greatest need and need to get the vaccine in the first efforts,” Mayor said. “But what we all agree on is high-risk health care workers, obviously absolutely crucial to protect those who protect all of us, and we know from a painful experience, how much have to focus on our nursing home residents and the good people who work in our nursing homes. So those will be among the top priorities, of course.”

How will the city prioritize? Here’s what’s being promised by the Mayor:

“We’re going to focus on those 27 neighborhoods that were most deeply affected by the coronavirus. We’re going to certainly focus on folks who have borne the brunt, like people who live in public housing, but we’re going to, throughout this process, work on the fastest and most effective distribution because the faster we can move and the more we can educate people, and the more we can get people involved, the more people who will be safe.”

City’s Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said that the “effort to vaccinate millions of New Yorkers in the months ahead will be, in a word, big.”

“As the Mayor said, our first priority includes health care heroes. Those who cared for us in the worst moments of the pandemic and whom we continue to depend on now, as cases rise. The Mayor also highlighted the people most at risk, including residents and staff of nursing homes. Our goal is to ensure that a safe, effective vaccine gets to everyone who wants it. Doing so will require close coordination, yes, across the entire city, but also with the state and the federal government, and it also requires us to make sure that all New Yorkers have access to the latest information.”

So expect us to be talking a whole lot more about vaccination going forward.