Slamming Cuomo’s Nursing-Home Moves—While Aiding Vaccine Resistance

Several Republican critics of the governor (and one of his Democratic allies) are pushing legislation that could undermine efforts to achieve broad immunity to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Joining the hue and cry in Albany over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 crisis are several lawmakers who are pushing bills that would limit the reach of vaccinations against the coronavirus and other dangerous illnesses.

“Governor Cuomo today tripled down on the lies and deception regarding his administration’s coverup of nursing home deaths,” Sen. Robert G. Ortt, a Republican who represents a chunk of the Lake Ontario coast between Niagara Falls and Rochester, said in a recent statement. “Instead of apologizing and taking one iota of responsibility, he politically attacked the press, lawmakers, nursing home staff, and blamed just about everyone but the man in the mirror for his deadly decisions.”

“The numbers don’t lie…except when they do,” said Peter Oberacker, a Republican senator from the 51st District (Cortland/Oneonta), said in a statement late last month. “Governor Cuomo and his administration have been dodging questions and stonewalling on the true nursing home statistics throughout this crisis,” the lawmaker continued, calling for “a full investigation” from the U.S. Department of Justice. “Those who have lost loved ones deserve honest answers and our most vulnerable deserve protection moving forward.”

In a similar vein, Sen. George Borrello, a Republican from the Jamestown/Olean area, has chided Senate Democrats to rein Cuomo in (“They have a duty to their constituents, and all New Yorkers, to help lead the effort to uncover the truth.”), his Republican colleague Sen. Joseph Griffo (whose district includes Utica and Potsdam) has called for a return to “coequal branches of government working to address problems affecting New Yorkers,” and Sen. Mike Martucci, a Republican representing the are north and west of Middletown, has called for a special prosecutor to investigate the nursing-homes scandal.

As disturbing as the Cuomo administration’s lack of transparency is, and as questionable as its early COVID-19 policies toward nursing homes were, these lawmakers’ professed devotion to the public health does not extend to embracing a tool that public-health experts overwhelmingly endorse as essential to stopping the spread of the virus, in nursing homes and elsewhere: vaccinations.

Ortt, for one, recently re-introduced his bill exempting private and parochial schools and daycare centers from immunization requirements—not just for COVID-19, but other afflictions as well.

Oberacker introduced and Griffo is cosponsoring a measure that would prohibit mandatory immunization against the coronavirus. That bill specifically exempts children from being required to get the shot and also stipulates that, “no incapacitated person shall be required to receive such vaccine against coronavirus unless a person who is the legal guardian of such incapacitated person chooses to have the incapacitated person vaccinated,” a prohibition that could be problematic to nursing-home facilities caring for people with dementia or other incapacitating conditions.

Borrello is a cosponsor on a bill by Patrick Gallivan, a Republican from the Geneseo/Elma region, that would prohibit any professional sanctions against a doctor who failed “to immunize any patient under their care if such patient refuses or a person in parental relation to a child refuses consent to immunization of such child.” Those two lawmakers are joined by Martucci and Oberacker in pushing a bill that would prohibit schools from forcing families to get vaccines if they hold “genuine and sincere religious beliefs” opposing immunization—but does not require any certificate of such religious views.

There’s nothing ideologically contradictory about wanting to reduce Cuomo’s authority and trying to prevent governments from requiring vaccination; both positions rest on a philosophy of limited governing power.

The clash, rather, could be between expressing concern for public health when it offers an attack line against a Democratic governor, but then proposing measures that could sacrifice public health to shaky science and individualism.

“I believe strongly that medical decisions should be made between an individual (or parents in the case of a minor) and his or her doctor, not the government. If the government believes in mandating one type of medical treatment where will the line be drawn? Government should not be mandating vaccinations and I will not support any such directive,” Oberbacker told City Limits in a statement, although he also said he was upset that rural areas “have not received an ample share of the state’s doses and many individuals are forced to travel hours to secure a shot – if they can get an appointment.”

Oberbacker didn’t directly answer a question about whether rejecting vaccine mandates was consistent with criticizing Cuomo on public-health grounds, but he did add: “It is clear that the administration has withheld information. A Department of Justice investigation is underway and I eagerly await the results. Let’s get the facts. Thousands of New Yorkers have lost loved ones, businesses have been bankrupted, and lives have been ruined. We need and deserve answers and those who are responsible must be held accountable.”

For his part, Gallivan told City Limits via email that he didn’t see a conflict between faulting Cuomo’s performance and facilitating vaccine resistance. “Public participation in vaccination programs is preferable and I encourage everyone to consider vaccines for themselves and their families,” he said. “However, the role of the government is to make vaccines available and provide accurate information on their efficacy to residents. Government should not force any citizen to be injected with a vaccine or drug.”

None of these Republican measures are likely to go anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate or Assembly. But Republicans are not the only ones offering legislation to limit the reach of vaccines at a time when most of the world is racing to produce, administer or receive one. Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Erik Dilan has introduced a measure that would be prevent kids in child care, head start, preschool, nursery, 3-K or pre-K programs (or other programs for kids aged 6 months to five years) from being required to get the flu shot.

Far from being a critic of Cuomo, Dilan has recently stood beside him—at a promotional event for the COVID-19 vaccine, ironically. Not ironic is the position of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on flu vaccines for little kids: The shots are particularly important for people in those age groups because the flu is especially dangerous to them.