March 3, 2021

Dear Governor Cuomo,

As members of the family organizations listed above, we are grateful to you and your administration for heeding our appeals and recognizing the increased vulnerability of people with I/DD to COVID infection and mortality, those residing in both congregate care settings and the community.  Thank you for including these residents in Tiers 1-A and 1-B for COVID vaccine access and you are surely preventing even more death and disease for our loved ones.  

We appeal to you to include the caregivers of the remaining 80,000 individuals with I/DD who live in the community in Phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccination program. Many people with I/DD are cared for at home by a primary family member, single parent, or caregiver under 65 years of age.  Should these caregivers become seriously ill, they may not have anyone to care for their loved one at home.

Please help ensure that people with I/DD and their caregivers remain safe at home and in the community. We join with many other advocates and ask that caregivers for individuals with I/DD be included in Phase 1B of New York State’s vaccine allocation program.

Sincerely,

Elly Rufer on behalf of Self-Advocates and Family Groups Representing Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities across New York State

cc:

• Dr. Theodore Kastner, Commissioner, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
• Howard Zucker, M.D., J.D., Commissioner, NYS Dept. of Health
• Kerri Neifeld, MSW, Assistant Secretary for Human Services and Mental Hygiene