HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) -- New federal guidelines only allow people age 65 and over, or with underlying health conditions, to get vaccinated for COVID, going forward, without a doctor's prescription.

New York, however, will keep its longstanding policy allowing anyone age six months or older to get vaccinated, after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Friday mandating the measure.

It came a week after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the FDA to restrict vaccine access. It also happened while COVID cases in New York State have increased fivefold in the last eight weeks.

At Friday's signing event, Gov. Hochul spelled out why she felt she had to act.

"So you can go into a pharmacy," she said, "and not worry about having to go to a doctor's office and getting a

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