New York opens vaccine eligibility to everyone age 50 and up
ALBANY, N.Y. » New York is expanding eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine to everyone age 50 and older, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
The governor said newly eligible people can start signing up for vaccines starting 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Currently, everyone age 60 and older can get vaccinated, as well as certain essential workers and people with select health conditions that leave them at-risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
Cuomo said the state can expand eligibility because of promises from the federal government that vaccine supplies will keep increasing. It’s unclear how many people are now eligible for vaccines in New York.
“We will have enough vaccine to vaccinate people,” Cuomo said. “We have to make sure we have the capacity and willingness to take the vaccine.”
Local and county officials for weeks have urged the Cuomo administration to ease restrictions on eligibility and who can administer vaccines to help speed up vaccinations. The governor has said low vaccine supplies has held up vaccine distribution early on in New York’s rollout, but he has eased eligibility restrictions in recent weeks.
New York has now provided at least one dose of the vaccine to about onefourth of its population of 19 million residents. That’s in line with the national average, according to federal data.
The governor said he wants to address the lower level of vaccination among minority communities, which can face barriers to healthcare.
“We still have not reached fairness and equity in the number of vaccines,” Cuomo said, later adding: “That discrepancy has to be remedied.”
Black New Yorkers represent 17.3% of New York’s population over the age of 15, while Hispanic or Latinos represent 18%.
But 9.9% of people with at least one dose identified as Black, while 11.9% identified as Hispanic or Latino.
Communities across the state report racial disparities in vaccination: Just 0.7% of people with at least one dose identify as Black
in New York’s North Country, even though Black New Yorkers represent 4.7% of the region’s population.
In Long Island, 5.7% of people with at least one dose identify as Black and 8.7% identify as Hispanic or Latino. But Long Island’s population over age 15 is 10.7% Black and 16.9% Hispanic or Latino.
Brazilian COVID variant confirmed in state
The first case of a COVID-19 variant known as the Brazilian variant was confirmed in New York.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital identified the case, which was then verified by the state
Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories.
The patient is a Brooklyn resident in their 90s who hasn’t traveled recently, officials said in a news release. Health officials are doing further investigation of the patient and any potential contacts.
“This is a race between the vaccine and the variants, and we continue to make tremendous progress of getting shots in the arms of eligible New Yorkers,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement. “In the meantime we remind New Yorkers to do everything they can to protect themselves and their neighbors as we continue to manage this pandemic.”
The Brazilian variant was first detected in the U.S. in January, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported nearly 50 confirmed cases nationwide.
The variant has been considered potentially more severe than earlier variants and possibly more resistant to current vaccines, though some recent research has indicated it may not be as resistant to the vaccines as initially thought.
Two weeks ago, state health officials said a different variant that first appeared in the New York City area in late November was accounting for roughly 2 in 5 cases in the city.
That suggested the possibility that it was spreading more easily than the older
strain of the virus, but city health officials said they’d seen no evidence that the New York City variant was deadlier or more vaccine resistant than earlier forms of the virus.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the emergence of the Brazilian variant in New York points to the need to spend federal dollars on public service campaigns to build trust in vaccinations.
“With the first new case of the contagious COVID variant from Brazil, it is more urgent than ever that we launch an all-out public, vaccine education blitz and get millions more shots in arms,” the New York Democrat said at a Manhattan news conference.