As one who is involved day to day with the COVID vaccine effort both in practice and also at the Legislature, I believe we should open up the eligibility of COVID vaccine to everyone on April 1st.   As many know, President Biden announced a goal of May 1st for widespread eligibility which is reasonable but I do believe here in New York we can do better.  Supply is improving and the Federal government has made the commitment to purchasing more vaccines.

Why?  The goal is not only to avoid discouraging people from getting the vaccine, but to increase access especially for those who engage with the public on a regular basis. It is astonishing that public facing individuals such as postal workers, especially those going door to door, are not eligible as of today.  The mail has been delivered every single day during the pandemic and it is surprising to me that they have not been included, although I do believe that will change very soon.  This is one of many examples I hear day in and day out, many of these examples,  and the frustration is real as is the resentment that one essential worker is prioritized more than another at this point.

Secondly, primary care practices and pharmacies should be able to administer to patients who have underlying health conditions.  Who knows better than one’s health care provider about what a patient’s health care conditions are than a physician or a pharmacist.  These medical professionals also have the patient’s contact information and can proactively reach out to the patients to get those most vulnerable vaccinated and have already been inundated with calls requesting the vaccine from their offices.

Additionally, one needs to know what is happening and as an insider in the pharmacy world I can attest to this.  Daily we are receiving messages from pharmacies or providers who are restricted to certain populations and are concerned that they are not able to use up their supply. As a reminder, we are under a time restriction where the state, in the spirit of immunizing quickly, wants us to use the supply we receive in 7 days. If we do not, we run the risk of being skipped over for not performing.  Therefore providers are not redistributing the vaccine when appropriate and it makes if very difficult to plan.

For the reasons above, I do believe if we open up the program to everyone, we in the health community partnering with our counties will be able to increase access to our patients and residents, ensuring that anyone who wants a COVID vaccine, can receive one.