STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — With rising cases and conflicting federal guidance, Gov. Kathy Hochul is ensuring that any New Yorker seeking the Covid-19 vaccine can get it this cold and flu season.
President Donald Trump’s administration axed over half a billion dollars in funding for the mRNA vaccine, which is the basis for the Covid-19 vaccine.
Furthermore, varying federal organizations are presenting their guidance on who should get the 2026 vaccine with little similarity shared between them.
Dr. Jason L. Schwartz, an associate professor of public health at the Yale School of Public Health, had this to say of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ Sept. 19 meeting: “…ACIP recommended that COVID vaccines can be administered to anyone 6 months of age or older, after consultation with a physician or another health care provider (including, in some states, a pharmacist). In contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved this year’s COVID vaccine only for people over age 65 and those considered at high risk due to certain medical conditions.”
Hochul signed an executive order prior to the ACIP’s meeting, vowing to keep New Yorkers healthy.
“I promised New Yorkers that their family would be my fight. In the absence of federal leadership, we must do everything we can to ensure that New Yorkers have access to the vaccines and preventative healthcare they have come to rely on,” Hochul said in a Sept. 5 announcement. “By signing this executive order, we are sending a clear message that when Washington Republicans play politics with public health, New Yorkers can still get the care they need, close to home, from trusted providers in their own communities.”
Prior to the executive order, numerous pharmacies began to tighten their Covid-19 vaccine administration qualifications to just three groups of people in New York: pregnant people; children ages three to 17; and adults without underlying conditions under the age of 65.
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