• New York reported 31,164 total statewide deaths of New Yorkers who tested positive for COVID-19, as of Jan. 6.
• There were 197 more fatalities in New York on Jan. 6.

NEW YORK (TIP): The long list of disagreements between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio through the course of the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, as the mayor – like other local officials across the state – asks the governor to expand administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to more eligible groups. So far, Cuomo has resisted allowing additional groups beyond “category 1A” recipients – health care workers and nursing home staff and residents – to start receiving the vaccine, saying that there are still many more of those individuals who should receive the vaccine before moving on to other groups. “The prioritization of health care 1A is federal guidance, state guidance, and it’s virtually universal across the country,” Cuomo said yesterday.

But New York City officials have said that thousands of vaccine doses risk going unused and wasted because of the limited number of people who can access them. On Friday, de Blasio continued to call for expanding vaccinations to groups including first responders and New Yorkers over 75 years old. “All around the state, people are asking for the freedom to vaccinate,” de Blasio said at a press conference today. “We have to assume at some point the state is going to hear us.”

The New York Times reported today that small numbers of vaccine doses have been thrown out in New York City after going unused. “It’s stressful and frustrating to have (the) vaccine and to be unable to start giving it to our patients as quickly as we would like,” one doctor told the Times.