New York Governor Kathy Hochul is expanding her vaccine mandate for health care workers to now say all those workers previous required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination will now have to have a booster dose within two weeks of becoming eligible with no test out option. There is still a provision for a valid medical exemption.

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Hochul also announced Friday that visitors to nursing homes, as of Wednesday, must wear surgical type masks and present a negative COVID test taken within 24-hours of a visit.

The Democrat says the latest guidance in New York, following action by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children aged 12 and older get the booster shot. That guidance adds 12 to 15-year-olds.

All New York State mass vaccination sites, including one located at the former Davis College on Riverside Drive in Johnson City, are now offering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for children aged 12 and other as well as third doses for immunocompromised children aged five and older.

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The mandates come as New York over the weekend announced 79-thousand, 777 new COVID cases.  New York has passed four-million residents infected in the past two years, nine months of the pandemic.

Answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

Keep reading to discover answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions.

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