Tague Urges Gov. Cuomo to Reconsider EMS High Risk
EMS to not receive COVID-19 vaccine in first round of distribution
Assemblyman Chris Tague (R,C,I,Ref-Schoharie) is outraged to hear the announcement that Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers will be taken off the Tier 1a distribution of the COVID-19 vaccination plan. This decision goes against national recommendations. Gov. Cuomo had little to say about the announcement other than a statement released by his office which said, “Following the vaccination of ‘high-risk’ health-care workers, the priority will shift to all long-term and congregate care residents and staff, EMS and other health-care workers.”
“To say EMS workers are not high risk when it comes to COVID-19 is completely ridiculous,” said Tague. “These brave men and woman risk their lives every day in general by responding to emergency situations, on top of the possibility of being infected with the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, many of these workers are volunteers, who are saving taxpayers an enormous amount of money. So it is the least we can do to make sure they are protected.
“I understand we will not have enough vaccines available to take care of all healthcare workers this first round, but to declare EMS workers not high risk enough to be included is baffling. Our governor has also yet to address the situation other than some cookie cutter statement released by his office, which gives no real reason as to why EMS has been taken off of the Tier 1a distribution. For someone who found he handled the pandemic well enough to write a whole book about it, you’d think he’d have more to say about the situation. What happened to taking care of our frontline workers? I am calling upon our governor to address and fix this situation immediately.”