ALBANY COUNTY — The COVID-19 focus this week was in preparing for the pending approval of a vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds.

As anticipated by the county health commissioner, the Food and Drug Administration last Friday, Oct. 29, authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children in that age group.

While clinical recommendations were awaited from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Albany County, in its 86th week of coping with the coronavirus; New York State; and the White House all made preparations for vaccination.

On Tuesday, a panel of scientific advisors for the CDC unanimously endorsed the Pfizer vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds and the formal acceptance of the recommendation by CDC Director Rochelle Wolensky followed on Tuesday night.

New York State’s Clinical Advisory Task Force unanimously agreed with the CDC, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday night, saying that next the state’s health department will issue guidance to the public.

“I encourage parents to reach out to their pediatricians and prepare to get their children vaccinated,” Hochul said in a Tuesday night statement. “New York State has been making preparations for this moment, and we will waste no time to help get shots administered through all available channels so that we can protect our kids from COVID-19 and finally put an end to the pandemic.”

At a White House press briefing on Monday, Nov. 1, Jeffrey Zients, coronavirus response coordinator, said, “As we await the CDC decision, we are not waiting on the operations and logistics ... we’ve secured enough vaccine for all 28 million kids ages 5 through 11.”

None of the vaccines already in the field can be used for kids, he said, so on Friday, within minutes of FDA’s authorization, the White House began the process of moving 15 million doses from Pfizer’s freezers and facilities to distribution centers.

“We know many families will turn to their pediatricians and family doctors,” said Zients. “And in addition, thousands of other trusted providers will also offer vaccinations for kids, including local pharmacies, health centers, and children’s hospitals.”

Following the CDC’s decision, parents will be able to visit Vaccines.gov and filter for locations offering vaccinations for children ages 5 through 11 so they can easily find a site nearby and schedule an appointment, Zients said.

He also said that, starting the week of Nov. 8, the kids’ vaccination program will be fully up and running.

Hochul, at a press briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 27, had introduced Emily Lutterloh, the state’s director of epidemiology who will head New York’s effort to vaccinate children once it’s authorized.

Over 1.5 million children are 5 to 11 years old in New York State and will therefore be eligible for the free shots. “These are really good vaccines. They’re safe. They’ve been tested, they’re effective and they’re free and easily available,” said Lutterloh of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech.

Lutterloh herself is the mother of three children, two in the targeted age group. “Like a lot of parents, I've dealt with the kids getting sick and having to keep them home from school and get them tested. And I even had one in quarantine. We all want to get back to normal,” she said, stressing that vaccination is the way to do that.

Lutterloh said pediatricians need to talk to parents and encourage those who are eligible. While she urged parents to talk to their pediatricians and make appointments, she urged pediatricians to enroll in the state’s COVID-19 vaccination program and to start scheduling patients as soon as possible.

A third of parents with children in this age group say they will vaccinate their children right away, according to a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a not-for-profit focusing on health-care issues.

Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen said on Monday, Oct. 25, that the county will hold in-school vaccination clinics and her department is also encouraging pediatricians to administer the shots because parents often feel more comfortable in their doctors’ offices.

She urged parents to get their children vaccinated noting that, once a child is fully vaccinated, he or she would not need to be quarantined after coming into contact with an ill child.

“Once they get innoculated ... they’ll be safe,” said Hochul at Wednesday’s press briefing.

The state, she said, is prepared to distribute the vaccine; 370 providers have pre-ordered a total of over 380,000 doses. The Capital Region, of which Albany County is a part, has pre-ordered 17,300 doses. In addition to that, Hochul noted, chain pharmacies are getting tens of thousands of doses from the federal government.

“This is just the first wave,” said Hochul, who anticipates an “initial rush.”

The state is also working with school districts to hold vaccination clinics; so far, 350 have committed to holding events, Hochul said, and 390 districts have agreed to send out notices. The state has about 730 school districts.

Asked if the shots would be mandated for children, Hochul said, “That is a possibility. It’s on the table.”

If the infection and hospitalization rates go up and there is not adequate compliance, Hochul said, “I’ll have no choice.”

FDA authorization

The FDA said that the immune responses in the 5-to-11 age group were comparable to those of people 16 to 25 years of age and the vaccine was found to be 90.7 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

The vaccine’s safety was studied in about 3,100 children with no serious side effects detected in the ongoing study.

The vaccine is administered as a two-dose primary series, three weeks apart, but is a lower dose — 10 micrograms as opposed to 30 micrograms given to people 12 and older.

In the United States, the FDA said, COVID-19 cases in children 5 through 11 years of age make up 39 percent of cases in individuals younger than 18.

According to the CDC, approximately 8,300 COVID-19 cases in children 5 through 11 years old resulted in hospitalization. As of Oct. 17, in the United States, 691 deaths from COVID-19 have been people younger than 18 years old, with 146 deaths in the 5-through-11-years age group.

Also according to the CDC, vaccination among 5- to 11-year-olds is expected to accelerate the decline in cases, reducing cumulative incidence nationally by an expected 8 percent, about 600,000 cases, from November 2021 to March 2022. Vaccination would dampen, but not eliminate, a new variant emergence, the CDC says.

Booster shots

Over the weekend, the CDC released authorization for booster shots for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Pfizer boosters had been authorized earlier.

Those who initially were vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna are eligible for the booster shots after six months if they are 65 or older or if they are 18 or older and live in a long-term care setting, have underlying medical conditions, or work in a high-risk setting.

People who got the original one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine are eligible for a booster shot two months after the initial shot.

So far, 787,000 New Yorkers have had a booster shot, Hochul reported last Wednesday, noting that 5.5 million New Yorkers are eligible.

“So we want to make sure those numbers get up,” she said, displaying a chart that showed, in the Capital Region, 71,724 residents had gotten booster shots.

In other recent COVID-19 vaccine developments, the CDC added “mental health” to the list of conditions that qualify Americans for booster shots of vaccine.

“Having mood disorders, including depression, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19,” the CDC said.

The CDC also updated its guidance so that people with weakened immune systems who have received a booster shot for a messenger RNA vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna — will now be eligible for a fourth dose of any of the three authorized vaccines six month after the first booster shot.

“COVID-19 vaccination (initial doses and boosters) and preventive measures for COVID-19 are important, especially if you are older or have multiple or severe health conditions,” says the CDC guidance on “People with Certain Medical Conditions.”

More mandates

The state’s latest vaccine mandates went into effect on Nov. 1.

“We had those in place to make sure that all of our health-care workers are fully vaccinated and we have 86.4 percent already met the mandate in our psychiatric centers — that’s great,” said Hochul on Wednesday.

“Our Office for People with Developmental Disabilities in our hospitals, they’re already 100 percent vaccinated,” she went on. “That’s incredible.

“So further proof that these vaccine mandates have worked. I’m really proud of the people who stepped up and all the health-care institutions and entities across the state.

“And as a result, when people enter one of our health-care facilities, they will have the confidence to know that the person taking care of them will not make them sicker than they were when they walked in by contracting COVID. So that's the good news.”

A COVID update from the governor’s office lists the mandate categories and how many workers have been furloughed or fired for not getting vaccinated.

Last Wednesday, the report said that, in hospitals statewide, 3,195 workers, which is 0.62 percent, have been fired for not getting vaccinated while another 1,571, or 0.30 percent, have resigned or retired due to being unvaccinated. Another 2,683, or 0.56 percent, are on unpaid leave.

Similarly, at nursing homes across the state, 1,667 workers, or 1.12 percent, have been fired for not getting vaccinated while another 83, or 0.06 percent, have resigned or retired. Another 951 nursing-home workers, or 0.64 percent, are on unpaid leave because they are unwilling to get vaccinated.

On Friday, Oct. 29, a lower court’s temporary injunction allowing exemptions for health-care workers who objected for religious reasons to the required vaccination, was vacated by the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Two cases — one brought by three nurses and another brought by 17 unnamed health-care workers — were returned to the lower courts for full hearing.

On Friday evening, Hochul issued a statement in response, saying, “On Day One, I pledged as governor to battle this pandemic and take bold action to protect the health of all New Yorkers. I commend the Second Circuit’s findings affirming our first-in-the-nation vaccine mandate, and I will continue to do everything in my power to keep New Yorkers safe.”

Comptroller’s report:

Sales-tax revenues up

Across the state, local sales-tax revenues continue to rebound at higher than at pre-pandemic levels.

Collections across New York totaled $5.2 billion in the third quarter, from July to September of 2021, which is up $861 million, or 20 percent, from the same period last year and continues the trend of exceeding pre-pandemic levels, according to a report released from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

Outside of New York City, the July-September period marked the fifth quarter in a row that county and city sales-tax receipts met or exceeded 2019 pre-pandemic levels for the same period.

Third-quarter growth for the Capital District was 15.4 percent.

From January through September of 2020, Albany County took in $193.7 million in sales-tax revenues. This year, during those same nine months, the county collected $234 million — an increase of 20.8 percent.

Year to year, sales-tax revenues were down in Albany County in January (-7.5 percent) and February (-8.1 percent) but started picking up in March (12.5 percent) and then soared in April (49.5 percent), May (48.8 percent), and June (49.8 percent). It started leveling off in July (23.7) as well as in August (20.6 percent) and September (16.0 percent).

The strength in statewide local collections likely reflects changes seen nationally, DiNapoli’s report says.

The United States Census Bureau’s advance monthly retail trade report shows strong year-over-year growth for the third quarter, especially in sectors such as gas stations (38 percent), clothing stores (35 percent), and restaurants and bars (34 percent).

Increased costs for goods also increase sales-tax collections, and the price of consumer goods and services during this third quarter grew by 5.3 percent over the same period last year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Overall, New York City’s collections have been recovering at a slower pace than the rest of the state since April 2020, but its sales tax revenue has nearly reached pre-pandemic levels.

The improvement in New York City sales-tax collections, the report says, is tied to factors such as the re-opening or increased permitted occupancy of more indoor venues such as restaurants, theaters, and sports arenas, as well as more offices requiring workers to return in person, at least part-time.

While DiNapoli said the year-over-year growth shows NewYork is experiencing economic recovery, he cautioned, “Local governments must closely watch changing economic conditions as supply-chain shortages and workforce disruptions may impact growth.”

Pass blueprint

New York is sharing a blueprint for its Excelsior Pass with other states, Hochul said last Wednesday, to make inter-state travel easier. The pass verifies that its holder is vaccinated.

New York launched its pass in March 2021 and, so far, over six million Excelsior Passes have been retrieved by New Yorkers, the governor’s office reports.

“So we want more people to come to New York. We want them to go to our restaurants. We want them to go to our plays ....,” said Hochul. “But, as people come from other parts of the country and around the world, we want to make sure that their states have the same blueprint that we developed so they can download this, start taking the steps necessary. So their own residents can travel freely.”

This will also allow New Yorkers to travel more easily to other states, said Hochul. “So we’re trying to create this synergy.”

The blueprint, now publicly available, shares New York State’s process to build, implement, and advance the Excelsior Pass platform. The document includes a step-by-step guide tailored for the unique needs of state governments, covering privacy and security strategy, data management, and public information and engagement.

The state will be hosting a series of virtual events and webinars to provide those interested with additional tools and resources. New York is actively working with other states to provide technical support, including architecture information and instructional logic, the governor’s office said in a release.

Newest numbers

This week, three county residents died of COVID-19: a woman in her seventies on Friday, a man in his seventies on Sunday, and a woman in her nineties on Tuesday, according to daily releases from Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

This brings the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 426.

“During October, we lost 19 Albany County residents to COVID-19; we know 12 were unvaccinated and 7 were fully vaccinated,” said McCoy in his Tuesday press release. “That information is provided by the hospital and not verified by our county health department.

“Getting vaccinated is the best defense against the virus. We also know that between October 24 and October 30, the hospital reports of the 36 people in the hospital with COVID, 55 percent are not vaccinated, 42 percent are fully vaccinated, and 3 percent are partially vaccinated.”

Of 561 positive cases in Albany County during the same time period of Oct. 24 through 30, there were 259 residents not vaccinated, 251 were vaccinated, and 51 either refused to say or the status was unknown.

About two-thirds of Albany County residents are fully vaccinated.

McCoy said in his Wednesday release that new vaccinations continue to stall.

“We have two pop up vaccination clinics this weekend — one in Albany and another in Berne — municipalities that also have some of the lowest first-dose vaccination rates in Albany County,” he said.

“Berne is estimated at about 54 percent, and the 12206 and 12202 ZIP codes of Albany are at about 52 percent and 59 percent, respectively,” McCoy said. “We need to improve these vaccination rates to protect more people.”

The Hilltown clinic will be held Saturday, Nov. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School at 1793 Helderberg Trail in Berne. First, second, and third doses of Pfizer and Moderna will be given as well as first and booster doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Residents are encouraged to register in advance at the link here.

On Wednesday morning, McCoy reported 72 new cases of COVID-19. The county’s five-day average of new daily positive cases is now down to 69.8.

There are now 513 active cases in the county, up from 494 on Tuesday. The number of county residents under quarantine increased to 1,035 from 970.

There were two new hospitalizations since Tuesday, and there are now a total of 32 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus — a net decrease of four. Nine of those hospital patients are in intensive-care units, down from 10 on Tuesday.