NY Ahead On Vaccinating Younger People As Eligibility Expands

NEW YORK — In comparison to other states, New York has gotten more of its younger residents but fewer of its senior citizens vaccinated against the coronavirus.

New York only opened vaccination eligibility to residents age 30 - 50 on Thursday. For those 16 - 30, eligibility just started Tuesday.

A new report from the Empire Center, an Albany-based think tank, parses data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that show New York 44th among states in the vaccination of residents age 65 and older, but 9th among states for immunizing the population between 18 and 65.

According to the Empire Center, before New York even opened vaccination eligibility to residents aged 16 and above, 32 percent of New Yorkers age 18-65 had already received at least one dose of vaccine, above the U.S. average of 28 percent.

Also as of March 31, 67 percent of New Yorkers age 65+ had received at least one dose, below the state average of 73 percent.

That means that the younger people who received vaccinations by March 31 got the shots because they were in other eligible categories.

At the beginning of the vaccination program, New York targeted residents and staff of nursing homes first.

"When you go back to when the vaccine first arrived and they had an idea of how this was going to go they also said 'we're going to do health care workers', which made sense," Bill Hammond of the Empire Center, author of the blogpost, told Patch.

Then in January state officials made people age 65+ eligible, and also essential workers. The latter, especially in front-line occupations like health care, EMS, police, firefighters and teachers, all tend to be much younger than 65, he pointed out.

"The elderly were kind of left to their own devices to find an appointment, whereas if you were employed at a hospital you were getting emails and there was a poster on the wall and there was a clinic in your workplace," " Hammond said.

That scenario played out across the state for weeks, with vaccine doses scarce and a complicated sign-up system that made many senior citizens frustrated or frantic. SEE: Southold Supervisor Calls For Fix To 'Fragmented, Chaotic' Vaccine Process

The plight of their senior citizens caused the Rockland County Office for the Aging to open an operations center just to help; and, before the supply of vaccine doses swelled in March, their senior-citizen appointment help waiting list (in a county of just 300,000) was more than 11,000 people long. SEE: Rockland Opens Emergency Ops Center To Help Seniors Get Vaccinated.

Still, Hammond pointed out, 67 percent of New Yorkers over 65 have had at least one shot, which may be below the national average of 73 percent but does put that population ahead of all other demographic groups in the state.

As of April 5, one in three New York residents has received at least one dose, according to state officials. That's slightly higher locally: On Long Island, 36.4 percent have had at least one dose, and in the Hudson region 34.6 percent of the population has had at least one.

You must have an appointment to receive the vaccine. Vaccines are available at state-run sites, pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and local health departments.

New Yorkers can make an appointment at a state-operated vaccine site at ny.gov/vaccine or through the New York State COVID-19 Vaccination Hotline, 1-833-697-4829.