Albany County announced Wednesday that it has launched a pre-registration option on its website for health care workers and essential personnel who are currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
County Executive Dan McCoy said the pre-registration system is intended to ease the vaccine sign-up process for those in the state’s 1a and 1b eligibility categories who have not yet been able to get vaccinated. The county has previously publicized online registration events on Tuesdays for vaccine clinics later in the week, but the slots fill up almost immediately — leaving many frustrated over when their turn will come.
“No more ‘Hunger Games,’ people,” McCoy said Wednesday. “It took a little bit longer than I wanted it to … but basically the biggest complaint is people fight to get online, the (clinics) fill up quick, and they’re boxed out.”
The county is encouraging 1a and 1b essential workers to pre-register via the site, which is available at albany.518c19.com. While people age 65 and older are also currently eligible for vaccination, the county is not authorized to vaccinate them.
McCoy said the site allows people to select from a list of chronic health conditions they may have. People with certain chronic health conditions will become eligible for vaccination starting next week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday, and counties have been authorized to vaccinate them. They are also encouraged to pre-register via the site.
“As of next week, Albany County will be able to vaccinate (people) of any age with comorbidities and that includes 65+,” county spokeswoman Mary Rozak said in an email. ” We are encouraging anyone to pre-register and when the time comes that they are eligible, they will be on the list.”
Those who fill out the form will be asked how they would like to be notified, including via text, email or phone call.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the pre-registration form will also be available on the city’s website, and said people helping friends or loved ones sign up are welcome to fill out the form on the other person’s behalf.
“The great thing about this is if you’re not computer savvy somebody can help you fill it out,” she said. “So you can fill it out for someone as their helper. If you have a senior who you don’t want them to get the call for scheduling the appointment, you’re their aide or you’re their child and you want to get called, you can put that information in. So we’re really trying to ensure that we can contact people in a way that is going to be effective.”
Sheehan noted that the form also asks for an address, which will become useful when providers seek to host equity-focused vaccine clinics that target certain housing developments.
“For example, the (Albany) College of Pharmacy has been a great partner,” she said. “So if they get 60 vaccines and they say they want to focus on seniors at a particular housing complex, they can go to this list and pull everyone who’s already pre-registered from that address. So it really is allowing those who are getting these vaccinations out to have a tool to allow them to reach the right now very underrepresented populations across the county … getting access to the vaccine.”
Other local counties have also moved toward a pre-registration option in an effort to ease anxiety.
Schenectady County has even encouraged people age 65 and older to pre-register on their site in the event the county is eventually authorized to vaccinate that age group.
Local state Assembly members Patricia Fahy, John McDonald and Carrie Woerner issued a joint statement earlier this week urging the state to create its own pre-registration tool. Right now, people are forced to call or visit dozens of different provider websites — including the state Department of Health’s mass vaccination site sign-up website — on a daily basis to try and sign up for vaccine, often without a waitlist or pre-register option that will notify them when slots become available.
Mobile vaccination update
Also on Wednesday, city and county officials revealed that a partnership with Mohawk Ambulance to bring the COVID-19 vaccine directly to homebound seniors and others in vulnerable communities had led to 727 people getting vaccinated across the Capital Region last week.
The vast majority of the doses — 624 — were administered in Albany County, and 401 of those were administered in the city of Albany.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the partnership was intended to help correct for racial inequities currently being seen with the vaccine rollout locally and nationwide.
Among those vaccinated in the city of Albany through the effort, 62 percent went to Black residents who make up 24 percent of the city’s population; 29 percent went to white residents who make up 57 percent of the population; and 5 percent went to Latino and/or Hispanic members of the community who make up 11 percent of the city population, she said.
“Where we found that we underperformed was in the Latino/Hispanic community,” she said.
McCoy said there was an issue during the earlier part of the week after the county learned that Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences volunteers had already vaccinated some residents of Albany Housing Authority complexes that Mohawk Ambulance had intended to reach. That led to an extra allotment of doses that the county then tried to use at a pop-up vaccination event Saturday.
On Monday, County Legislator William Clay said he was frustrated with the effort after he was asked to bring seniors to the site to receive vaccinations.
Clay, who leads the Legislature’s Black Caucus, said he had been asked to take the shot on television and encourage others to receive it as part of the county’s push to ensure people of color feel comfortable receiving the vaccine.
