Rob Kirkham, The Buffalo News Dr. Richard Charles, is the chief medical officer of General Physician PC in western New York. He is part of a group of physicians, led by the county health commissioner, charged with a variety of COVID public health responses. ALBANY â With growing concern about a drop in COVID vaccination rates in New York, the Cuomo administration and localities are looking at incentives â from free booze to ballgame tickets to retail store discounts â as a hesitancy antidote. But might that arsenal be more complete by better involving what surveys suggest is the most trustworthy advice when it comes to information about COVID vaccines: the family doctor?