Vaccine sign-up pool expands
State is told to broaden eligibility, but feds don’t supply additional doses
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday criticized a new directive from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for states to vaccinate anyone 65 and older as well as those with compromised immune systems.
The directive released Tuesday morning means that at least 7 million New Yorkers have become eligible for vaccination at a time when the state is not receiving enough vaccines to finish inoculating hospital workers and other groups who had previously qualified, including people 75 and older.
That figure does not include those with compromised immune systems who are younger than 65.
State officials clarified that they will not immediately schedule vaccinations for those under 65 who have compromised immune systems until they sort out the criteria, which they said had not been defined by the CDC.
“We’ll be putting out guidance on that in the near future — which of these conditions and comorbidities will be eligible,” said Gareth Rhodes, a member of Cuomo’s coronavirus task force who is helping lead the state’s vaccination rollout. “I cannot emphasize enough the need to be patient here.”
Melissa Derosa, secretary to the
governor, said anyone 65 and older can schedule an appointment to be vaccinated through the state Health Department’s online portal: https://am-i-eligible.covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov or hotline: 1-833-NYS-4-VAX (1-833-697-4829).
The CDC’S new guidance was issued as the state’s rollout of vaccinations has been widely criticized, including a state hotline for vaccination appointments that crashed under the weight of calls on Tuesday when it was opened up.
Although many people had success registering to be vaccinated — a mass-vaccination site at the state University at Albany has scheduled appointments through March — numerous people contacted the Times Union on Monday and Tuesday to say they had waited on hold for hours on the state’s hotline only to be disconnected.
State officials said they will increase the number of hotline call center workers from 800 to 1,100 in the coming days. The call center is handling about 57,000 calls an hour, but state officials are encouraging those eligible for shots to use the Health Department’s online portal, which is also overwhelmed as millions are seeking to schedule appointments.
“You have a lot of people calling these lines. ... We’re signing up tens of thousands of people,” Rhodes said. “We’re opening new state (vaccination) sites this week. Pharmacies are coming online and we’re adding scheduling systems to their programs. ... Our message is very simple: People need to have patience; we’re going to be scheduling people for months and months and months out. Based on supply, hopefully those can be moved up.”
The CDC’S guidance regarding those with compromised immune systems caught many states off guard. New York offi
cials are uncertain, once that criteria is defined, how many people will be added to the 7 million people already eligible for vaccinations in New York, including health care workers, teachers and those 65 and older.
Cuomo called the CDC’S new guidance “another major change in a very short amount of time.”
The state is receiving about 300,000 vaccine doses per week — and has received about 1.1 million doses in the first month since the first vaccine was approved. More than 664,000 New Yorkers have been vaccinated.
“The federal government didn’t give us an additional allocation,” Cuomo said of the expanded pool of people eligible for shots. “How do you effectively serve 7 million people, all of whom are now eligible, without any priority? If I’m 90 years old, I’m in the same class as a person
who is 65-plus.”
The governor said that “hundreds of thousands” of doctors and nurses have still not been vaccinated and that hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with people sickened by COVID -19 as infections among staff members leave those facilities shortstaffed.
“The policy and the intelligence of the federal system eludes me, but we will do the best we can,” he said. “But this is ... a loaves-and-fishes situation.”
Rhodes said that people who are unable to immediately schedule an appointment should not panic, and keep trying.
“We expected the moment eligibility opened up there would be enormous demand,” he said. “We urge people to be patient. ... We have millions of eligible people who want doses — that’s a good thing.”