Stefanik calls Cuomo 'absolute disgrace' for prioritizing drug addicts for coronavirus vaccine

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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday as the "Worst Governor in America" for prioritizing vaccines for drug addicts over seniors.

"The Worst Governor in America streak continues," Stefanik tweeted, sharing a link to a New York Post report on the governor’s daily press briefing where he said that drug addicts would be among those administered COVID-19 vaccines.

"This time prioritizing vaccines for drug addicts over tens of thousands of seniors who have been home bound since the start of the pandemic," Stefanik wrote.

Cuomo’s press briefing on Monday came as the state was expecting to receive nearly 260,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

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Cuomo said that shots would be given to "priority populations" and that when more vaccines are available, these populations will expand. 

would be given to residents of Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) facilities. The agency runs 12 treatment centers across the state of New York, five of which are located in and around New York City.

Cuomo said these facilities are "congregate," meaning they have a lot of people in concentration, and pose a high risk of spreading COVID should one of its residents test positive.

"These are congregant facilities, congregant facilities are problematic. It's where you have a lot of people in concentration," Cuomo said. "Nursing homes are obviously the most problematic because they're congregant plus older, vulnerable people. OASAS -- what we call the 'O' facilities -- they're congregant, not necessarily older, but congregant facilities."

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A spokesperson for the governor's office disputed Stefanik's framing of Cuomo's vaccine rollout plan, noting that nursing home residents would still be receiving the vaccine.