BUFFALO, N.Y. — More than three weeks ago, the state announced that people who are immunocompromised are in Phase 1B of COVID vaccinations, but it never released a list of which conditions are included.
This has left a lot of people in limbo, especially people who are immunocompromised and under the age of 65. They want to know when they will be able to get appointments.
On January 12, the state announced people who are immunocompromised would be in Phase 1B. On January 20, with no list of qualifying medical conditions out yet, 2 On Your Side did a story following up with the state asking when a list would be released.
That was two weeks ago, and a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health told us then, "We are constrained until the Federal government steps up and provides more doses."
With more doses on the way, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked about this during his news conference Tuesday. He said he talked with the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director.
"The prior CDC guidance on immune-compromised, and I don't know the specific difference between diabetes 1, diabetes 2 on what they decided, but it's about four-million people in New York State. Just to give you an idea of the scale, we're now at seven-million people. We only have 15 million people eligible. If you add four-million people immune-compromised, you're at 11 million of 15 million and you're still only getting 300,000 dosages per week. So it becomes a question of, OK, everybody's available. Nobody can get it," Cuomo said.
The Governor said he didn't know what the CDC would decide.
"Eligibility without availability is illusory, and not only illusory, I believe it's counterproductive because now you create additional anxiety. Now you have seven-million people chasing appointments for 300-thousand doses every week," Cuomo said.
On Wednesday, 2 On Your Side went to the New York Department of Health and the CDC for answers.
A spokesperson for the NYS Department of Health told us that they would get back to us, but they did not answer our questions before our deadline Wednesday afternoon.
After our deadline, they sent us the transcript of Tuesday's press conference with the Governor. They did not answer our specific questions about who will be included in Phase 1B if they are immunocompromised.
We never got a response from the CDC.
The Governor did say that if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine becomes available, that would significantly increase the supply.