Governor talks vaccine eligibility for the immunocompromised
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR) — On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he doesn't know what health conditions the CDC will consider for coronavirus vaccine eligibility. The lack of movement comes two weeks after the CDC put states in charge of deciding what health conditions would be eligible, but Cuomo said he will work with the CDC to narrow the list.
The current CDC guidelines dictating what qualifies as an underlying health condition was created when former President Donald Trump was still in office and is currently being reviewed by the new administration's CDC leadership.
Under the guidance, four million New Yorkers would qualify. Since almost two million out of seven million eligible have already received the vaccine, the opening to four million people would almost double the number of people competing for the same small number of doses.
People currently eligible have had to compete and hunt for appointments on a myriad of different websites, battling other people seeking the same appointments.
Cuomo said: "Eligibly without availability is illusory. Not only illusory, I believe it's counterproductive because now you create additional anxiety."
The CDC considers adults of any age with the following conditions at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19:
The CDC considers adults of any age with the following conditions might be at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19:
- Asthma
- Cerebrovascular disease
- Cystic fibrosis
- Hypertension or high blood pressure
- Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, or use of other immune weakening medicines
- Neurologic conditions, such as dementia
- Liver disease
- Overweight
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Thalassemia (a type of blood disorder)
- Type 1 diabetes