New Yorkers aged 50+ will be eligible for the COVID vaccine
Dr. Michelle Chester of Northwell Health in Queens prepares to administer the first coronavirus vaccine in New York State; Photo: Scott Heagedins for the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Flickr
The group of New Yorkers eligible for the coronavirus vaccine is set to expand again this week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced that New Yorkers aged 50 years and older will be able to sign up for a vaccine appointment starting 8 a.m. on March 23. “We are dropping the age as we’re vaccinating more people,” the governor said during an event at the Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon.
At the start of the vaccine rollout, New Yorkers aged 75 years and older were included in the first phase along with healthcare workers and nursing home residents and staff. Cuomo agreed in January to lower the age prerequisite to 65 years and older and earlier this month dropped the age prerequisite to 60 years. Just two weeks later, those aged 50 years and older will be eligible starting Tuesday.
In just the last few weeks, Cuomo has opened up vaccine eligibility to a number of new groups. On March 17, public-facing government and public employees, non-profit workers providing services for New Yorkers in need, and building service workers, like supers, security officers, and resident managers, became eligible.
This group includes social service and child service caseworkers, government inspectors, sanitation workers, DMV workers, County Clerks, and election workers.
On Sunday, the governor said New Yorkers with certain underlying health conditions can receive the vaccine at pharmacies across the state, which originally were only serving those aged 60 and older and teachers.
“We continue to kick vaccinations into overdrive throughout the state by expanding eligibility, establishing new vaccination sites and allowing providers to reach new populations. More New Yorkers are getting vaccinated every single day, but we still have a long way to go before defeating the COVID beast and reaching safety,” Cuomo said in a press release.
As of Monday, New York has administered over 7.7 million total doses of the COVID vaccine, with about 13 percent of the state fully vaccinated to date.
See if you are eligible and make an appointment here. You can also call the state’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. Find the city’s vaccine appointment finder website here.
NYC Vaccine List, a volunteer-run website that finds all currently open appointments, shows over 6,600 available vaccines as of Monday morning. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched their own vaccine finder website that searches for appointments by location and vaccine type, nationwide.
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