Should a clinic administer the vaccine to somebody before their turn, they could face a fine of up to $1MM.
The reasoning behind the executive order appears to be preventing a “black market” for vaccines, or otherwise tying the system to wealth
Instead, Cuomo is creating another obstacle to swift distribution of vaccines, which could risk more of them possibly spoiling. He has also prioritized addicts in state rehabs for vaccination.
At this point, distributing vaccines to people out of turn hasn’t emerged as a problem. Instead, 3 weeks into the most ambitious vaccination campaign in modern US history, far fewer people than expected are being immunized against the virus as the process moves slower than officials had projected and has been beset by confusion and disorganization in many states. Of the more than 12 million doses of vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that have been shipped, fewer than 3MM have been administered, per data from the CDC. As of Sunday, the state of NY has doled out roughly 1/3rd of the nearly 775K doses that have been distributed.
