ALBANY COUNTY — Eligibility and access for COVID-19 vaccination is opening up.

“It couldn’t be soon enough,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen of the expanding eligibility.

“We will be looking forward to meeting the challenge of getting as many residents vaccinated as we can ... ,” she said. “We also need to do a lot to work with people that are still on the fence with getting vaccinated.”

On Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that, starting Tuesday morning, New Yorkers age 50 and older will be eligible for vaccination. People can make an appointment by calling 1-833-NYS-4VAX.

“We don’t yet have the increase in the allocation so what people are really doing is making an appointment for when the allocation does increase, but we want to get those appointments set up so when the allocation does come we're ready for it,” Cuomo said.

He noted that, despite pop-up vaccination sites in communities of need, numbers are still off in terms of total equity of distribution.

“The Black community still lags in terms of percentage of vaccination, the Hispanic community still lags. The white community is somewhat over-represented. The Asian community is about equal or over represented,” he said.

Cuomo launched a “Roll Up Your Sleeve” campaign on Monday to encourage houses of worship of all faiths to sign up as vaccination sites. Medical providers are being asked to partner with the churches, temples, and mosques for a program to start in April.

The governor made the announcement at Grace Baptist Church in Westchester County, noting that  AstraZeneca is going to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, which, if granted, will make a fourth vaccine available in the United States.

“We will have enough vaccine to vaccinate people,” said Cuomo, speaking at Grace Baptist. “We have to make sure we have the capacity and the willingness to take the vaccine …. We’re deploying a foundation of our society, which is our faith-based community. We have religious leaders here from all across the spectrum. We have rabbis who are with us today, we have imams who are with us today, we have priests who are with us today, we have pastors who are with us today.

“Remember, taking the vaccine is not just for you. You take a vaccine to save the lives of others,” said Reverend Dr. Franklyn Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “You take the vaccine to save our grandmothers, and our grandfathers, and our children. You take a vaccine to make our city safe, our nation, and our state safe.” 

On Sunday, Cuomo had said that pharmacies across the state can now vaccinate New Yorkers with comorbidities. Previously, pharmacies had been limited to vaccinated teachers and people aged 60 and older.

Now any New Yorker age 16 or older with a listed comorbidities — ranging from obesity and pregnancy to pulmonary and heart disease — can get vaccinated at a pharmacy.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, at his Monday morning press briefing, had advocated for making residents 50 and older eligible for vaccination.

Whereas vaccination appointments used to be made weeks ahead, McCoy noted that two large-scale clinics in the county currently have spots available: the site at the Washington Avenue Armory run jointly by the state and federal governments, and the site at the uptown University at Albany campus run by the state.

White House officials, McCoy reported, have said that, by the end of March or beginning of April “we’d get more vaccine in …. It will continue to open up and get out to more people.”

McCoy cited the most recent figures on vaccination. As of Monday morning, 32.5 percent of Albany County residents have received at least one dose while 16.4 percent have completed a vaccine series.

As of Monday evening, according to the state’s vaccine tracker, 33 percent of Albany County’s 307,117 residents had received at least one shot.

Statewide, the tracker said, 26.1 percent of New Yorkers had received at least one dose, and 13.4 percent had completed a vaccine series.

In the United States, both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are administered in two doses while Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires just one shot. Great Britain has been using just one dose each of Pfizer and Moderna to get more people vaccinated quickly.

McCoy listed the partners with which the county had shared 425 of its 500 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, to be administered to Albany County residents who are homebound: 95 each went to Emergency Medical Services in Guilderland and Colonie, 10 went to Marra’s Pharmacy in Cohoes, 25 went to Eddy Senior Care, and 200 doses went to Eddy Visiting Nurse and Rehabilitation Association.

He praised the “great teamwork from everybody getting this out.”

McCoy also urged residents, “Please, please take whatever’s available.”

“The vaccine is safe and effective,” said Commissioner Whalen at the Monday press briefing.

Describing the vast majority of people who come through the county’s point of dispensing or POD, she said, “There’s a tremendous sense of relief.”

She also said, “Remember: It’s not just you that you protect when you get vaccinated.”

At the same time, both county officials stressed the need for residents to continue to wear masks, avoid gatherings, and stay socially distanced.

“Any time you have increased mobility and people gathering in groups,” said Whalen, “there is a concern. We are particularly concerned about the UK variant and, now that we know there is — although it’s just an isolated case — the Brazilian variant … They are much more highly transmissible.”

People who have had COVID-19 should not be tested for the virus for 90 days, said Whalen.

But someone who has been vaccinated can get tested because a vaccination does not give a positive test result, she said.

“If you have been vaccinated and you have symptoms, you should be tested,” she said.

Newest numbers

“We are starting to see more increase of positive cases with COVID-19 but we’re not seeing the hospitalizations, which is awesome,” said McCoy on Monday morning as he announced 50 new COVID-19 cases.

He also announced there were no new hospitalizations overnight, for the first time since Nov. 26. There are now 23 county residents hospitalized from the virus — a net decrease of two. There are still four patients in intensive-care units, unchanged from Sunday.

The 50 new cases brings the county’s total to 21,745 since the start of the pandemic.

Of the new cases, 28 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, 20 did not have a clear source of infection identified, and two are health-care workers or residents of congregate settings.

The five-day average for new daily positives has increased slightly to 68 from 67.6. There are now 505 active cases in the county, down from 508 on Sunday.

The number of Albany County residents under quarantine decreased to 1,233 from 1,282. So far, 69,076 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 21,240 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 47 recoveries since Sunday.

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 365.

Statewide, the infection rate, as of Sunday, as a seven-day rolling average, was 3.3 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

For Albany County, also as of Sunday, as a seven-day rolling average, the infection rate was 1.8 percent.