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New Yorkers age 30 and over will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine starting Tuesday — and everyone 16 years and older will be eligible to receive a shot next week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

Those age 30 and above can both begin to schedule appointments and get inoculated starting Tuesday, while those 16 and older can start to schedule appointments and get vaccinated beginning April 6.

The move comes after the governor lowered the vaccine eligibility age to 50 last week.

“Today we take a monumental step forward in the fight to beat COVID,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the new vaccine eligibility criteria.

“As we continue to expand eligibility, New York will double down on making the vaccine accessible for every community to ensure equity, particularly for communities of color who are too often left behind,” Cuomo said.


  Beginning April 6, all New Yorkers 16 years of age and older will be eligible to receive the vaccine, he added. REUTERS Beginning April 6, all New Yorkers 16 years of age and older will be eligible to receive the vaccine, he added. REUTERS

Mayor Bill de Blasio has often been critical of Cuomo’s moves in the pandemic, but a spokesman told The Post they are on the same page this time. 

“Mayor de Blasio has been calling for the freedom to vaccinate more New Yorkers for months and months, so this is welcome news,” said Bill Neidhardt.

“New York City gave over 475,000 doses last week and as long as supply continues to grow, we are ready to vaccinate more folks and double-down on our efforts to reach seniors and our hardest hit neighborhoods,” Neidhardt said.

The Empire State will totally open up coronavirus vaccine eligibility nearly a month before President Biden’s May 1 deadline.

Earlier this month, Biden announced that he will direct all US states to make all adults eligible for the shot by that date – and since then, most other states had either opened eligibility to all or set an upcoming date to do so.

To date, more than 9 million vaccine doses have been administered at sites across New York, according to state data.

In the last 24 hours, 171,419 shots have been administered across the state’s distribution network and more than 1.3 million doses have been administered over the past seven days.


  ‘Today we take a monumental step forward in the fight to beat COVID,’ Cuomo said in a statement announcing the new vaccine eligibility criteria. AP ‘Today we take a monumental step forward in the fight to beat COVID,’ Cuomo said in a statement announcing the new vaccine eligibility criteria. AP

A total of 29.6 percent of New Yorkers have had at least one vaccine dose, according to the data. 

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks

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