#New York ahead of Florida in vaccinations

New York has now outpaced Florida in giving out the COVID-19 vaccine, but is still trailing other states including Alaska, Oklahoma and West Virginia, the latest CDC data shows.

The Empire State had distributed the vaccine at a rate of 1,218 doses per 100,000 people as of Saturday morning, according to the CDC’s vaccination tracker.

Florida, which had been outpacing New York, was lagging, doling out 1,148 shots per 100,000 people.

Critics have blasted New York for the slow rollout with Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin calling the state’s distribution of the vaccine “blithering incompetence.”

The governor’s office shot back Saturday afternoon with the state’s latest vaccination figures, noting New York had administered more than 274,000 doses, or 1,408 vaccinations per 100,000 residents.

The numbers show New York has vaccinated “indisputably more than any other large state,” Cuomo spokesman Jack Sterne said.

But New York hasn’t measured up to neighboring Connecticut, which has given out 2,040 doses per 100,000 people or South Dakota at 2,985 per 100,000 residents.

The CDC said 4,225,756 people received the first dose of the vaccine as of Saturday morning, out of 13,071,925 distributed