Meanwhile, the federal government on Tuesday announcedВ use of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine should be temporarily halted.В The halt came after six people in the U.S. While New York state has opened vaccine eligibility to those age 16 and over, only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for people age 16 and 17. Both need two doses, and second-shot appointments should be made at the time the first dose is administered. Pfizer doses are being sent to a few larger sites - Garnet Health Medical Center in Orange County, Westchester Medical CenterВ and Ulster Health Department, for example. Moderna vaccines make up most of this week's distribution. But some Mid Hudson counties have been faring worse than that: Orange County's positivity rate was at 5.3% that day Rockland County's positivity rate was 4.7% Dutchess was 4.6%. Andrew Cuomo reported on Tuesday that the statewide positivity rate (the percentage of COVID tests that showed presence of active virus)В for Monday was 3.90%.

But Orange County lagged with just 31.9% of its population having at least a first vaccine dose Sullivan (32.5%)В and Rockland (35.7%) were also behind.Д«ut COVID remains a risk. Westchester boastedВ a 44% first-dose vaccination rate and Ulster had achieved 45.9% Putnam (42.3%) and Dutchess (41.1%) also surpassed the state average. As of Tuesday, 38.6% of New Yorkers had received at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine. Vaccination rates are increasing in the state and region. Why is Lin-Manuel Miranda crying?: A look at next steps for Broadway J&J vaccine on pause: What does it mean for the Hudson Valley? 'I was in tears,' Riley said when she confirmed her mom got the shot.В 'There is just a weight lifted off of my shoulders to know that my mom is somewhat protected from this terrible virus.' It became especially urgent to get her mom vaccinated, Riley said, after one of the many aides who comes into Hanusik's home came down with COVID.

Riley had been working for months to get her mother, who is too frail to travel, the vaccine. A volunteer nurse, Amy Schlegel, went to Hanusik's Haverstraw home to give the first dose of a Moderna vaccineВ and plans to return for the second dose in three weeks. Tricia HanusikВ Riley of West Nyack, for example, was able to get a shot administered Wednesday by New City Pharmacy to her homebound 87-year-old mother, Karen Hanusik. A pause in administering the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine this week has made the search even more difficult.Д«ut, it's not impossible. Still, the hunt for accessible vaccination appointments remains a challenge for many in the Mid Hudson region, which includes Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties. The state planned to send thousands of vaccine doses to local health departments and hospitals this week as the appointment bottleneck has seemed to ease at state-run mass vaccination sites. Watch Video: Moderna vaccines in Garrison

Mid hudson mac phone number