NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio defends NYPD vaccination plan amid dispute with Cuomo

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his plan to expeditiously distribute the coronavirus vaccine to NYPD officers on Thursday, even though it is not permissible under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state guidelines.

De Blasio said the city needed the "freedom to vaccinate" during a press conference on Thursday that came after apparent confusion over the rules.

"Yesterday I told you about new state rules that had come out that we interpreted -- we think very clearly, very appropriately, very legally -- to mean that we could vaccinate our correction officers. That we could vaccinate our police officers who respond to 9-1-1 calls who have to administer CPR … the folks who in any moment could be in very close, intimate proximity with another person," de Blasio said.

De Blasio said he was "told by the state" that his massive push to vaccinate those people was not allowed, and he could only distribute doses to some NYPD medical core members.

GOV. NEWSOM ADMITS CALIFORNIA VACCINE ROLLOUT HAS 'GONE TOO SLOWLY'

Under Cuomo’s guidelines, several hundred emergency service officers are eligible to receive vaccine doses in the first distribution phase. There are roughly 36,000 officers on the force.

Cuomo clarified that only police who are health care workers are included in the first phase. The remainder of officers would be in the next distribution tier.

"The rules of the COVID vaccine distribution have been clear for many weeks and agreed to by virtually all credible federal and state leaders," the governor’s office said in a statement on Thursday. "The first priority is ‘1A,’ healthcare workers who are on the front lines."

The pair of New York leaders have butted heads over many issues throughout the pandemic, including whether and when to close public schools.

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New York is among many states where the vaccine rollout proceeded at a slower-than-expected pace.

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this week that state officials were working to accelerate the vaccine distributions in his state, which is in the midst of a devastating outbreak.

"It's gone too slowly," Newsom said during a press conference. "I know for many of us, all of us, I think we want to see 100% of what's received immediately administered in people's arms, and so that's a challenge."

Newsom said 454,000 doses had been administered as of Sunday. The state is working to allow more providers eligibility to distribute the vaccine, like dental offices for example.

Meanwhile, throughout the country as a whole, health care facilities had distributed more than 5.3 million doses of the vaccine as of Wednesday.  But the government had predicted that 20 million people would have been vaccinated by the end of last month.