While the Senate Republican Conference’s Long Island delegation is blaming Governor Andrew Cuomo for  “utter chaos” in the state’s vaccine roll-out, Cuomo maintains the fault lies with the federal government naming 7 million New Yorkers eligible while distributing just 300,000 vaccine doses weekly.

The federal government made several shifts in COVID policy this week: Requiring international travelers to test negative before flying to the United States, changing the guidance for vaccine eligibility, and releasing doses originally held back.

ALBANY COUNTY — While the county’s GOP chairman condemns the violence at the United States Capitol last week, he also likens it to the violence at Black Lives Matter protests over the last year.

The latest shift in federal policy allows 7 million New Yorkers to get vaccinated — people 65 and older are now eligible — yet the state gets just 300,000 doses a week.

Depending on the facility and the day, hospitals in the region are at 70- to 80-percent capacity. “Once we get to 85 percent, we get nervous,” said James Reed, the president and chief executive officer of St. Peter’s Health Partners. That is the number set by the state’s winter plan for battling COVID-19, requiring a region, at 21 days, to shut down.

Under New York's expanded eligibility, the following individuals will now be eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment:

Much of Andrew Cuomo’s speech on Monday — to be followed with several later presentations — dealt with initiatives spawned because of the coronavirus. He detailed plans for vaccinations, ways to deal with the economic crisis, and to “address the systemic injustices exposed during this year’s low-tide in America: the inequity, the racism, and the social abuse.”