New Yorkers 60 and Older to Receive Walk-In Vaccine Appointments Statewide on Friday

   Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New Yorkers who are 60 and older will be able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine without having to make an appointment in advance, starting this Friday

   "The older you are, the more susceptible you are to harm from the virus," the governor said. "So, for people over 60 years old, and I'm one of them, really: no excuses.”

   For New Yorkers who are hesitant to get the vaccine, the governor reminded them that, “this is not just about you.”

  “You are a member of the community,” Gov. Cuomo said. “If you get sick, you can get someone else sick.

   “You don’t live on an island all by yourself. If you go on a bus, you go on a train, then you affect other people.

   “Getting vaccinated is a civic duty. It is the responsible thing to do.

    Gov. Cuomo remembered that his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo spoke about New York as a family.

   “You are a member of the family: one extended family of New York,” the governor said. “Your behavior will affect the family.”

   Vaccination is necessary to reach herd immunity, explained Gov. Cuomo, who warned that COVID variants are always looming.

   “Yes, we are headed in the right direction with COVID, but we can’t get [overconfident,]” he said. “In some places rates went down, but then spiked and went right back up.”

    For today, though, New York's positivity rate stands at 2.14%, which is the lowest is has been since Nov. 5. The seven-day rolling average stands at 2.6%.

   “This is a great piece of news,” Gov. Cuomo said today. “We are now back to where we were in early November, before Thanksgiving and before the whole holiday surge.”

     Gov. Cuomo, who expressed great optimism, told New Yorkers, “You can knock us down, but we always get up stronger, as we did after 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.

   “We are going to do the same thing after COVID.

    “We are poised for rebirth: Not just to awake from the COVID winter, but to arise ever stronger into this COVID spring.”

     Among the state’s improvements, the governor mentioned were promises of more affordable healthcare and housing, universal broadband access, and that the state will be “the green energy capital of the world.”

    “But the keys to the state’s rebirth, the governor said, are vaccinations.”

(Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)