Leaders optimistic for future with 16+ vaccine eligibility

Two weeks ago, New York state increased eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to those ages 30 and up, and last week, it increased eligibility again, to those ages 16 and up. The milestone is one health care workers across the county have been anticipating for months, and the continued interest from community members in getting vaccinated gives leaders hope toward the county’s overall journey to recover from the pandemic.

While increased eligibility means that more people are trying to schedule vaccinations, health care leaders interviewed for this story said it hasn’t led to significantly more challenges in their COVID-19 efforts. In fact, as Dr. David Evelyn, vice president of medical affairs at Cayuga Medical Center, explained, it is a welcome change from the previous system filled with long lists of eligibility requirements.

“While we understand why you want to do it that way — and there’s a lot of sense — it just makes it more difficult for us,” Evelyn said. “Now, we don’t have to ask, ‘OK, why do you deserve a vaccine? Show me proof that you work for Wegmans or you work for that agency, or this agency, or you have this kind of job or that kind of job.’ Now, it’s much easier.”

Dr. Andreia de Lima, hospitalist at Cayuga Medical Associates, shared Evelyn’s perspective.

“It made sense in the beginning, when the vaccine supply was not as stable as it is now, to limit to categories,” she said. “But now that it is increasing, and demand is increasing, because it is a race, you want to vaccinate as many people that want to be vaccinated as soon as you can. So, I think the overall feeling of having this now is relief that people that want to be vaccinated, independent of having comorbidities or not, they’ll be able to get their shot.”

New York state reached the 16 and up milestone almost one month ahead of President Joe Biden’s goal for the country to reach the same milestone by May, which Evelyn attributes to the state’s emphasis on creating many vaccination sites throughout the state.

“Some of the big western states, it’s all about mass vaccination sites. That’s great,” he said. “But if you don’t live near one, and we don’t live near one or at least reasonably near one, it’s an impediment. If you don’t have transportation, you can’t get there. So, I think that was one of the good things that New York did, trying to get multiple different locations, multiple different kinds of venues to give the vaccinations.”

Since practically the start of vaccine rollouts, there has been more demand than supply, and that’s still the case with increased eligibility. But now that a wider swath of the state’s population is eligible, county health leaders are hopeful vaccine supply will increase to keep pace with the demand.

“Right now, we’re getting somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 doses a week,” Evelyn said. “And if we continue at that rate, then we know it’s going to take a while to get everyone else vaccinated. If we are able to increase that rate, because the supply increases, then it’ll take a shorter period of time.”

The county has continued its efforts to provide vaccines at a wide variety of locations, which helps handle the influx of appointment requests. As a result, vaccination sites have largely been able to get folks vaccinated efficiently. Dr. Ashley Paolangeli, supervising pharmacist at the Kinney Drugs in Trumansburg, shared her experience at Kinney Drugs, which is one of the many vaccination sites in the county.

“We’ve definitely had a lot more questions, and we have seen a lot more of the younger population coming in for their vaccination appointments,” she said. “Our volume has remained the same regardless, just a different population.”

There’s also been strong interest from the community at nonpharmacy clinics. Public Health Director Frank Kruppa said last week’s slots at The Shops at Ithaca Mall vaccination site filled up quickly, with a lot of interest from younger residents.

“Here in Tompkins County, we have a large higher ed population,” he said. “We have a lot of young people in that younger age group, that 16 to 30, so now, having them be eligible is great so we can begin to vaccinate those that didn’t fit into one of the other eligibility categories.”

While the response has been positive, residents still have plenty of questions, as all sources shared. The biggest question all reported was “Which vaccine should I get?”

“The simple answer is the first one that you can get access to,” Kruppa said. “They’re all safe. They’re all effective. And we would encourage folks to reach out for that first appointment.”

Kruppa cautioned that the only vaccine currently approved for use in 16- and 17-year-olds is the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been temporarily halted by the CDC after six reports of an extremely rare type of blood clot.

No matter what vaccine you receive, there is a risk of side effects after getting vaccinated. However, for those who don’t generally have adverse reactions to vaccines, the side effects have been mild, as de Lima explained.

“Most of the side effects are not severe,” she said. “Some people have some local pain. And sometimes after the second shot, people may have a little bit of a fever, body aches — that’s a sign that your immune system is working — but it’s fairly self-limited. What we’ve seen is usually 12 hours, 24 hours, and after that, people are feeling well again.”

Because of the side effects, Evelyn suggests getting vaccinated — especially the second dose — when you can lie low and relax the next day if needed.

Even though many residents are working to get vaccinated, health care leaders acknowledged that there is still some vaccine hesitancy in the county, as well as folks who have trouble getting vaccinated for one reason or another. The Tompkins County Health Department, Cayuga Health and others are working to reach those groups and get everyone who’s eligible vaccinated.

“I imagine in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be able to make some significant inroads in those newly eligible populations,” Kruppa said. “And once we’re through those, then we’re really going to be looking to get those folks that have not yet been vaccinated. … We’ve got to do some work to reach the individuals that might be hesitant, or might have barriers to getting to a vaccination site, to make sure that we can continue to get the rest of our community vaccinated.”

Evelyn added that leaders are working on ways to reach more remote populations who have limited or no access to transportation.

“The county has been working with the Visiting Nurses Association about vaccinating at home, and the county has run some pop-up clinics, … [and] most of that effort has been focused on Ithaca,” he said. “But I think at some point, we’re going to have to get out to some of the outlying towns where people may not have transportation into Ithaca, and so, it still may be difficult for them to get vaccinated.”

Kruppa explained that health care leaders are working hard to reach everyone because, as de Lima referenced previously, we’re very much in a race.

“Ultimately, we’re also trying to get ahead of the variants,” he said. “We want to get as many people vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID so that it doesn’t have time and resources to be able to continue to mutate and potentially create bigger problems for us. So, we’re really, really trying to get folks vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

While the rate of vaccinations largely depends on supply, Kruppa said he’s hoping that by early summer, everyone in Tompkins County will have the opportunity to be vaccinated. And that will aid in the county’s overall recovery efforts, as de Lima shared.

“We are carefully optimistic that more people getting vaccinated [means] less cases in the community,” she said. “And hopefully, even if we get cases, they’re not going to be as severe as what we saw during winter. So, I think that’s the overall hope, that we are coming out of the fog and things are going to get better.”

Paolangeli also shared optimism for what’s to come.

“We’re well on our way,” she said. “I think it’s difficult to say where we’re going to be months down the line, but I’ve seen a tremendous response from our community coming together to get vaccinated and protect themselves and their communities. And I think we’re on the right track.”

To learn more about vaccinations or to schedule an appointment, there are many avenues to do so. For those with limited internet access, 2-1-1 can help answer vaccine questions or sign you up for a vaccination. To schedule an appointment online for The Shops at Ithaca Mall, visit tompkinscountyny.gov/health/covid19vaccineform to register.

If you want to be vaccinated at a specific pharmacy, visit that pharmacy’s website to check for appointment availability. For example, to schedule an appointment at Kinney Drugs, visit https://secure.kinneydrugs.com/pharmacy/covid-19/vaccination-scheduling/ny.