New York Governor Cuomo is proposing a regulation that can make skipping the queue to be shot against the law

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, speaks at a press conference in New York City on September 8, 2020.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a law that will make it a crime to sell or give coronavirus vaccination shots to people trying to get ahead in line.

“This vaccine can be like gold to some people,” Cuomo said at a press conference Monday. “If there is fraud in the distribution – you let people stand in front of other people or friends or family or they sell the vaccine – you lose your license, but I think it should be criminal and I will propose a law to that effect. “

Cuomo said vendors could lose their license if they fraudulently administer vaccines, although the law would result in criminal penalties if allowed by state lawmakers. To date, healthcare workers and people living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been entitled to Covid-19 vaccines.

New York has already started administering Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, although the roll-out has been slower than planned. Cuomo urged state hospitals to give the vaccine faster. He said hospitals could face fines of up to $ 100,000 for failing to deliver their coronavirus vaccine allocation by the end of this week.

The state has received more than 774,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses but only administered 237,000 on Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitals that have received Covid-19 vaccines in the past three weeks have only used about 46% of the doses on average, according to a Cuomo slide presented at the briefing. While some hospitals have given almost all of their doses, others have only used 15%, according to the governor.

“This is a management problem for the hospitals. They have to move the vaccine and they have to move the vaccine faster,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the New York Department of Health sent a letter to all hospitals on Sunday saying if they don’t use their vaccine assignments by the end of this week, they will be fined up to $ 100,000 and not given any more Assignments.

In the future, government hospitals will have to use their cans within a week of receiving them. Vendors who fall seriously behind could face further penalties, he said.

“You have the allotment, we want to have it in the arms of the people as soon as possible,” said Cuomo. “We’re going to use other hospitals that can manage it better.”

This is a developing story. Please try again later.