Coronavirus Vaccine Eligibility Expands: What You Need To Know

LONG ISLAND, NY — St. Patrick's Day marked expanded vaccination eligibility in New York State, on the same day that 10 new mass vaccination sites opened statewide, including three on Long Island.

The sites are located at SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Stony Brook Southampton and Suffolk County Community College. The sites began accepting appointments Wednesday; priority will be given to people 60 and over.

Also on Wednesday, a new group of New Yorkers is now eligible to book vaccine appointments. The group includes public-facing government employees, nonprofit workers who provide public-facing services to New Yorkers in need, and essential building service workers. More specifically, it includes workers like public works employees, social service and child service caseworkers, government inspectors, sanitation workers, DMV workers, county clerks, building service workers and election workers.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccination at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church in New York; he received his dosage there, he said, to highlight the need for equity in vaccine distribution and also received Johnson & Johnson to show that it wa safe, he said.

Here is a full list of all eligible as of March 17.

Eligible New Yorkers in Phase 1a and 1b are:

• Individuals age 60 and older who reside in New York
• First responder or support staff for first responder agency
• Fire
  • State fire service, including firefighters and investigators (professional and volunteer)
  • Local fire service, including firefighters and investigators (professional and volunteer)
• Police and Investigations
  • State police, including troopers
  • State park police, DEC police, forest rangers
  • SUNY police
  • Sheriffs' offices
  • County police departments and police districts
  • City, town, and village police departments
  • Transit or other public authority police departments
  • State field investigations, including DMV, SCOC, Justice Center, DFS, IG, Tax, OCFS, SLA
• Public safety communications
  • Emergency communication and PSAP personnel, including dispatchers and technicians
• Other sworn and civilian personnel
  • Court officer
  • Other police or peace officer
  • Support or civilian staff for any of the above services, agencies, or facilities
• Corrections
  • State DOCCS personnel, including correction and parole officers
  • Local correctional facilities, including correction officers
  • Local probation departments, including probation officers
  • State juvenile detention and rehabilitation Facilities
  • Local juvenile detention and rehabilitation facilities
• P-12 Schools
  • P-12 school (public or non-public) or school district faculty or staff (includes all teachers, substitute teachers, student teachers, school administrators, paraprofessional staff, and support staff including bus drivers)
  • Contractor working in a P-12 school or school district (including contracted bus drivers)
  • Licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt group childcare
• In-person college faculty and essential in-person staff
• Employees or support staff of licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt group Childcare Setting
• Licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt group childcare provider
• Public Transit
  • Airline and airport employee
  • Passenger railroad employee
  • Subway and mass transit employee (i.e., MTA, LIRR, Metro North, NYC Transit, Upstate transit)
  • Ferry employee
  • Port Authority employee
  • Public bus employee
• Public facing grocery store workers, including convenience stores, bodegas, regional food banks, food pantries and permitted home-delivered meal programs
• Individual living in a homeless shelter where sleeping, bathing or eating accommodations must be shared with individuals and families who are not part of your household
• Individual working (paid or unpaid) in a homeless shelter where sleeping, bathing or eating accommodations must be shared by individuals and families who are not part of the same household, in a position where there is potential for interaction with shelter residents
• High-risk hospital and health center staff, including psychiatric centers
• Health care or other high-risk essential staff who come into contact with residents/patients long-term care facilities and long-term, congregate settings
• Certified state EMS provider, including but not limited to certified first responder, emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, emergency medical technician — critical care, paramedic, ambulance emergency vehicle operator, or non-certified ambulance assistant
• County coroner or medical examiner, or employer or contractor thereof who is exposed to infectious material or bodily fluids
• Licensed funeral director, or owner, operator, employee, or contractor of a funeral firm licensed and registered in New York State, who is exposed to infectious material or bodily fluids
• Staff of urgent care provider
• Staff who administer COVID-19 vaccine
• All outpatient/ambulatory front-line, high-risk health care workers of any age who provide direct in-person patient care, or other staff in a position in which they have direct contact with patients (i.e., intake staff)
• All front-line, high-risk public health workers who have direct contact with patients, including those conducting COVID-19 tests, handling COVID-19 specimens and COVID-19 vaccinations
• Home care workers and aides, hospice workers, personal care aides, and consumer-directed personal care workers
• Staff and residents of nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and adult care facilities
• Restaurant employees, including workers in permitted soup kitchen and congregate meal programs*
• Restaurant delivery workers*
• Public-facing hotel workers*
• For-hire vehicle drivers, including taxi, livery, black car, and transportation network company drivers*
• Public-facing government and public employees
• Not-for-profit workers who provide public-facing services to New Yorkers in need
• Essential in-person public-facing building service workers

List of Comorbidities and Underlying Conditions:

New Yorkers age 16 and older with the following conditions qualify for the vaccine:

• Cancer (current or in remission, including 9/11-related cancers)
• Chronic kidney disease
• Pulmonary isease, including but not limited to, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma (moderate-to-severe), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and 9/11 related pulmonary diseases
• Intellectual and developmental disabilities including Down Syndrome
• Heart conditions, including but not limited to heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, or hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) including but not limited to solid organ transplant or from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, HIV, use of corticosteroids, use of other immune weakening medicines, or other causes
• Severe obesity
• Pregnancy
• Sickle cell disease or Thalassemia
• Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
• Cerebrovascular disease (affects blood vessels and blood supply to the brain)
• Neurologic conditions including but not limited to Alzheimer's Disease or dementia
• Liver disease