NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday the state will accept the new federal COVID-19 vaccine guidance.
The Trump administration is expected to recommend opening up vaccines to everyone older than 65 and those who are immunocompromised.
"This is another major change in a very short period of time," said Cuomo.
According to Cuomo when you add in individuals older than 65 as well as the immunocompromised to the groups eligible for the vaccine in 1A and 1B, there are now about 7 million New Yorkers eligible to be vaccinated.
The governor says although the number of New Yorkers eligible to be vaccinated has increased, the number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine the state receives from the federal government each week is not changing.
Officials say the state receives 300,000 doses of the vaccine each week, meaning it will take weeks to vaccinate those who are currently eligible. Previously, the state estimated it would take until April to vaccinate those in groups 1A and 1B.
NEW: New Yorkers age 65+ are now eligible for the COVID vaccine — effective immediately.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 12, 2021
Check your eligibility and find vaccination locations near you.
I urge patience as unfortunately there are far more eligible NYers than there is vaccine supply from the federal gov.
According to Melissa DeRosa, the Secretary to the Governor, the state's website has been updated to allow those eligible under the new federal guidance to register/make an appointment to be vaccinated.
And again, as a result of coming into line w the federal guidance while being constrained by the federal allotment to New York, we currently have approx 300K doses for a universe of 7M people
— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) January 12, 2021
This will take time and a lot of patience https://t.co/6HrWHtihu0
7 Eyewitness News has more information on the COVID-19 vaccine and how to find out if you're eligible here.
