February 27, 2021
Dear Friends,
This week our nation mourned the unfathomable loss of more than 500,000 Americans to COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. President Joe Biden ordered flags lowered to half-staff for five days to mark this devastating milestone. To those of you who have lost someone, know that my staff and I—and countless others across our Capital Region and throughout our nation—grieve with you.
The end of this pandemic cannot come soon enough. One of the most important steps we can take to reach that goal is to achieve widespread COVID vaccination. I have worked for months to drive up production and distribution of this lifesaving resource and am gratified that we are now approaching 50 million Americans vaccinated. In fact, we marked several key milestones this week in the effort to improve vaccine rollout and put us on the path to achieve herd immunity.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to grant emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s safe and effective single-dose vaccine today, following its endorsement Friday by a panel of FDA experts. This vaccine not only provides significant protection against COVID generally, testing shows it to be as effective as other vaccines at reducing hospitalizations and deaths. We are told an estimated four million doses could be ready and available as soon as next week.
As I write this, House Democrats are working to advance President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. This comprehensive, compassionate legislation makes critical investments to expand vaccine distribution, support businesses and workers, get children back safely to school and deliver direct relief to struggling families. Despite arcane Senate rules, I am working to ensure it also includes a gradual increase to a $15 minimum wage.
We still have a long road ahead to defeat this pandemic, rebuild or economy and rescue our working families and communities. But these efforts bring us ever closer to achieving these goals. And each of us has an important part to play in the coming months.
As we continue to improve and expand vaccine rollout in our Capital Region and nation, I’d like to hear from you! Have you been able to get a COVID-19 vaccine? What has your experience been like? What are your priorities and plans as we continue the national vaccination process? Let me know by clicking on the survey image below.
(click survey image to open in a web browser)
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
Throughout this pandemic, my office and I have worked to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations on any and all COVID-19 related topics. With that in mind here is some information from New York State that may be of interest to you:
- Starting Wednesday, March 3rd, eligible New Yorkers in areas with low vaccination rates in in Buffalo, Rochester, Albany and Yonkers can make vaccine appointments at State-FEMA sites.
- Site location and eligible zip codes for Albany are as follows:
- Albany, Schenectady, Troy: Washington Avenue Armory
195 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY
Eligible Zip Codes: 12202, 12206, 12210, 12209, 12207, 12222, 12180, 12307, 12308, 12305, 12304
- Appointments can be made through New York's 'Am I Eligible' website or by calling 1-833-NYS-4-VAX (1-833-697-4829). Appointments can also be made by visiting the sites beginning when they open on Wednesday, March 3.
- For the first week of scheduling, appointments at these sites are initially reserved specifically for New Yorkers currently eligible for vaccination living in areas with low vaccination rates. After one week, appointments at each site will then be made available to all residents of counties served by the site.
