Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North and Sands Point
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Friday, January 22, 2021
Vol. 6, No. 4
Port WashingtonTimes CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
LANGONE TURNS AGAINST TRUMP
SUOZZI, RICE VOTE TO IMPEACH
PAGES 19-22
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PAGE 6
Cuomo, Curran seeking more, getting less
F R E E S K AT E
Pfizer rejects governor’s request to purchase vaccines directly BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Despite encouraging trends for vaccination distribution on Long Island, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Gov. Andrew Cuomo continued to say that the process needs to be sped up. Cuomo sent a letter to Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, Albert Bourla, after the state received 50,000 fewer vaccine doses this week than last week. Cuomo asked Bourla if the state could purchase vaccines directly from Pfizer rather than obtaining them from the federal initiative Operation Warp Speed. “It is abundantly clear that these vaccines are the weapons that will finally win the war against COVID-19,” Cuomo said in the letter. “But with hospitalizations and deaths increasing across the country this winter, we are in a footrace with the virus, and we will lose unless we dramatically increase the number of doses getting to New Yorkers.”
Pfizer, in a statement, said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would need to approve for the state to conduct a transaction directly with the company. According to state figures, the Nassau County Department of Health was the best-performing distribution entity on Long Island as of Monday, administering 100 percent of first doses through the first four weeks of vaccinating. Despite encouraging figures, Curran said, there is an immediate need to up the scale of vaccine distribution throughout Nassau County. “We must increase the scale of federal vaccine shipments so we can pick up the pace,” Curran said. “Nassau has the infrastructure in place to administer the vaccine in greater numbers, and we’re investing in the outreach necessary.” Other facilities in the county that have been administering at least 90 percent of vaccine doses Continued on Page 28
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COW NECK PENINSULA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Ice skaters enjoy the Duck Pond on Central Drive in Baxter Estates in a photograph dated 1910. The image was one of many featured in the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society’s “Along the Shore” event in which society President Chris Bain showed the photos over Zoom and explained their significance in the history of Port Washington.
24% of Weber, Schreiber students learn remotely BY R O S E W E L D ON Nearly 24 percent of students at the high and middle school levels in the Port Washington school district are learning remotely, new data shows.
At the school board’s meeting on Tuesday, Ira Pernick, principal of Schreiber High School, and Beth Javeline, principal of Weber Middle School, presented the figures on how many students were
learning remotely and why. The data showed that the numbers of students going online for their classes at both schools had increased significantly, with 420 on Nov. 4 Continued on Page 28
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