Editor’s Note: This story and the headline have been updated after an aide for Sen. Schumer clarified comments he made at an event in Syracuse Tuesday.
Syracuse, N.Y. — Within a month, the federal government will bolster vaccine distribution in Central New York in an effort to get more people vaccinated and roll back restrictions on eligibility, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.
“The federal government is taking over vaccines, because when the state and localities have done it, they haven’t had enough, enough information,” Schumer said in Syracuse Tuesday. “The federal government, within a month, will set up centers all over Central New York that will remove all these requirements and people can just line up and get the vaccines.”
An aide to Schumer said afterward it’s not yet certain that new vaccination centers will be opened, but the federal money will supplement resources and vaccine supply at the existing locations, run by the state and the county. Eligibility restrictions won’t be eliminated, but a greater supply will mean speeding along the easing of who can get it.
Schumer said money to supplement local vaccine sites is included in the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill recently passed by the Senate. The bill includes $4 billion for Covid-19 vaccine procurement and testing.
“When it goes through the state… they have too many requirements,” he said. “ ‘Oh you’ll be 65 in three months? Forget it. Go home.’ That kind of thing.”
Vaccinations are currently limited to people who meet certain criteria. That can include age requirements, pre-existing conditions or the nature of someone’s job. Teachers and nurses, for example, can get the vaccine, regardless of their age or health status.
Schumer’s said he hopes enough people will be vaccinated by June that some parts of normal life can return.
Schumer’s comments came the same day as Gov. Andrew Cuomo expanded eligibility for the vaccine to include people 60 year of age and older and some more “essential” public workers.