ALBANY COUNTY — After weeks of debate and confusion over booster shots, on Monday, the shots started being given to eligible New Yorkers who had received their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months before.

Donald Harrison Paul, who was raised in the Helderbergers and worked in construction and as a farmer, served during World War II, when he was wounded at Utah Beach during the last Normandy landing.

He died in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he had lived at the end of his life, on Jan. 6 , 2021. He was 97.

The president of Albany Medical Center on Tuesday thanked Governor Kathy Hochul for issuing an executive order on Monday night that will allow out-of-state and out-of-country nurses and medically trained National Guard members to fill in for needed health-care workers. The order also expands the role of emergency medical technicians and lets retired health-care workers re-enter the workforce.

New Yorkers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should receive their booster dose at least six months after their primary vaccine series if they are 65 years and older or residents in long-term care settings, and if they are between ages 50 and 64 with underlying medical conditions.

New Yorkers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may receive their COVID-19 booster dose at least six months after their primary vaccine series if they are 18 to 49 years old with underlying medical conditions, or if they are 18 to 64 years old and are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of their jobs.

Funding is now available to help low-income households that have fallen behind on their utility bills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, took the unusual step of overruling the CDC’s advisory panel to align the CDC’s policy with the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation on more people being eligible for booster shots.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued its guidance for a more limited use than the Biden administration had called for, including people 65 and older, people at high risk of severe COVID-19; and people whose frequent occupational exposure to the virus puts them at high risk of serious complications of COVID-19.

Johnson & Johnson reports a second shot improves efficacy to 100 percent protection against critical COVID-19.

The state Department of Health filed an emergency regulation, which became effective on Aug. 27, that requires all students, faculty, and staff of all public and private schools in the state to wear masks inside school buildings.

SCHENECTADY — Elaine S. Zimmer taught home economics while raising her two children and, with her husband, traveled to five continents and all 50 states.

She died peacefully, with her family by her side, on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at Ingersoll Place. She was 92.