New York City will begin offering in-school Covid-19 vaccinations for kids aged 12 to 17, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
The program will start at four schools in the Bronx on Friday and will eventually expand to all five boroughs in the next few weeks. The city is partnering with UFT, a labor union that represents most teachers in the NYC public school system, to get as many kids over 12 years of age vaccinated before the school year ends later this month, de Blasio said.
Currently, around 118,000 New York City kids aged 12 through 17 have been vaccinated, comprising about 23% of the city’s kids in that age range, de Blasio said.
To date, New York City has administered over 8.3 million vaccine doses, de Blasio said.
The mayor also announced that the New York Aquarium will become a vaccine site and it will offer the Pfizer vaccine to anyone aged 12 and over. Anyone who gets vaccinated there will also get a free admission ticket, de Blasio said.
On Wednesday, New York City reported 240 new Covid-19 cases and a second-straight day with a Covid-19 positivity rate of 0.83% — the lowest rate the city has seen since it began recording that statistics, according to the mayor.
66 people were reported to be hospitalized due to Covid-19 for a rate of 0.56 per 100,000 people, city statistics show.