Onondaga County is vaccinating residents against COVID-19 at a rate that has local leaders asking for the state to increase eligibility. County Executive Ryan McMahon said many of those included in Phases 1A and 1B are no longer having trouble booking a vaccine appointment, and many categories are reaching capacity.
“There’s a lot of supply right now and moving forward it’s getting harder and harder to fill the appointments - that’s a good sign- increasing eligibility at this point, I think is warranted. We’ve shared our thoughts and intelligence with the state, hopefully they move on that in the near future.”
McMahon is worried that if eligibility does not increase soon, the county will face challenges filling appointments each week. He’s currently appealing to the state to decrease the age of eligibility from 65 to 50. He also believes vaccine slots should open up to additional employment categories—such as hairstylists.
“Think about the segments of the academy we kept shut down longer. Why did we keep them shut down longer? Because there’s more risk. Well, there’s still more risk then. So, your hair stylist and your barber shops, and these types of businesses that got activated later on, they should probably become eligible as well.”
The county listed 2,000 more appointments Monday and will host two pop up clinics this week. One will be held at Brighton Towers in Syracuse, and the other will be held at the Rescue Mission. About 31% of Onondaga County’s adult population has received at least the first dose of a vaccine.
