New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged New Yorkers on Wednesday to get the new COVID-19 vaccine, warning past vaccines “will not help you” against a possible coronavirus surge this winter.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve already been vaccinated. Take no comfort in that. Thank you for getting vaccinated in the past, but that is not protecting you today,” Hochul said during a press briefing, later adding, “Tell everybody don’t rely on the fact that you had a vaccine in the past, it will not help you this time around.”
Hochul said the new vaccine guards against new COVID strains and “matches the new variants that are now dominant.”
“It’s really a customized vaccine,” Hochul said. “It is literally a new vaccine. It is not a booster shot. It is not an enhancer. It is a new vaccine designed to attack the new variants.”
Last month, President Joe Biden announced his intentions to ask Congress for increased funding to develop an updated COVID-19 vaccine for “everybody.”
The Biden administration is preparing to push Americans to receive additional vaccines, claiming waves of the COVID-19 virus are still prevalent.
“I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress, a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works,” said Biden, adding that once the new vaccine is ready, it would be “tentatively” recommended “that everybody get it.”
The new vaccine initiative focuses on the latest version of the omicron strain, named XBB.1.5, according to Breitbart. The proposed vaccines would differ from the present combination shots, which combine the original coronavirus strain with last year’s most predominant variants.
Last year, Congress declined the Biden administration’s request for $9.25 billion to counter the virus, as reported by Fox News.
This was a breaking news story. The details were periodically updated as more information became available.
