ALBANY, NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) – Governor Paterson announced Friday that the New York State Dept. of Health is reinstating the requirement that hospitals offer the H1N1 flu vaccine to caregivers of newborns in intensive care and hospital patients who are 65 years or older.

“Complacency is the flu’s best friend and our worst enemy,” Governor Paterson warned. “If people do not act now to get vaccinated, a third wave of this dangerous virus becomes more likely. There is plenty of H1N1 flu vaccine available from health care providers, county health departments, pharmacies and pharmacies-within-supermarkets, and I encourage all New Yorkers to take the opportunity to get vaccinated.”

The reinstated requirement was made possible by increased supply of vaccine. While flu activity is not as prevalent now as it was in November, it is still active regionally throughout New York. In November, when the H1N1 and seasonal vaccines were in short supply, State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., exercised his statutory authority to waive the requirements that hospitals offer vaccinations against influence to at-risk patients and caretakers.

“There is enough H1N1 vaccine available to the general public to give effect to the requirements of Public Health Law Section 2805-h, which was signed by Governor Paterson last July and provides protection to newborns in intensive care by requiring flu vaccination for their caregivers,” Commissioner Daines said. “Similarly, while older adults are not as likely as younger people to come down with H1N1 flu, the flu can cause life-threatening complications. Because a sufficient supply of vaccine is now available, it is appropriate to reinstate the requirement that hospitals offer the H1N1 vaccine to newly admitted patients age 65 and older.”

U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has warned that H1N1 flu is still causing illness, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States.

The New York Department of Health has allocated more than 5.9 million doses of the vaccine for New York State outside of New York City, the maximum made available by the CDC.