NYS Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, M.D., Refuses Mayor’s Proposal to Use Up Vaccine’s Second Doses

By Yehudit Garmaise

    To compensate for a lack of supply of COVID vaccines, Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo whether the city could use its stash of second doses to provide more New Yorkers with their first doses, however, New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, M.D., has refused that request: based on the current opinion of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which does not recommend the mayor’s proposal.

    “Gov. Cuomo has already said that if the CDC does recommend using second doses for first doses, he is ready, willing, and able to administer a state-wide program that will do just that,” Dr. Zucker wrote today in a letter to Mayor De Blasio. “If the CDC does reach a point where they recommend the use of second doses, it is fair to assume the CDC will also recommend protections that would need to be put in place to make sure second doses are available on a timely basis.”

   Although the Pfizer vaccine requires a second dose after three weeks after patients receive their first shots, and the Moderna vaccine requires a second does four weeks after its first shots, Mayor de Blasio does not seem bothered by the notion that, under his plan to use up the city’s supply of second doses, New Yorkers who received their first vaccination shots will be left indefinitely without their second shots.

  Dr Zucker responded to the mayor’s cavalier attitude about the medically recommended administration of the vaccine by writing, “Your suggestion that a ‘brief delay’ of people receiving second doses would be acceptable does raise a caution flag.” 

   “People have worked very hard to get vaccination appointments, and there is much public anxiety that second doses will not be available on their appointment dates.”

   While Dr. Zucker mentioned that delays between vaccine doses could be to blame to the evolution of dangerous COVID mutations, he also acknowledged that medical experts currently dispute whether "brief delays" between vaccine doses could decrease the full immunity New Yorkers could receive from the doses, if they were properly administered. 

   Furthermore, Dr. Zucker felt using up the vaccine doses of patients who had secured scheduled appointments to be vaccinated would “create undue anxiety” among New Yorkers.

   “As you know the vaccination process and supply has not instilled a high level of public confidence,” wrote Dr. Zucker, who asked that New Yorkers continue to focus their energy on completing the vaccination process for 1B essential workers and the elderly. “Even postponing appointments due to the recent snowstorm has caused concern, I believe it is important that all scheduled appointments be honored.”

(Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)