School vaccination clinics were so popular during the first round earlier this month that the city decided to bring them back to hundreds of schools, including PS 40 in Gramercy.
The clinics offer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to children as young as 5 years old.
Right now, only 16% percent of school children in NYC ages 5 to 11 have gotten their first shot, and officials want to increase those numbers dramatically.
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The city’s popular $ 100 vaccine incentive applies to young people if they are vaccinated at a city-run location, including schools.
School vaccine forms can be found at Schools.nyc.gov/COVID19, and school leaders also send communication with students home.
Meanwhile, four months after the city held a massive reopening concert, Mayor Bill de Blasio is asking people to put on their masks again.
The city strongly urges people to wear masks in all indoor environments prior to the expected arrival of the omicron variant, although the mayor stressed that it was an advisory and not a mandate.
“We broadcast the mask advice to formally say, in a way more than we have done in the past, that it is time to use the masks in many settings,” he said. “But the key strategy is vaccination. If something changes, a mask mandate is obviously an option. But it’s not one we’re using right now.”
The mayor says 88% of New York City adults have received at least one shot, and close to a million have received boosters. Yet the number of new cases in unvaccinated people far exceeds the cases among fully vaccinated.
So far, New York has no confirmed cases of the omicron variant, but experts say it is only a matter of time, with preliminary data suggesting that this variant may spread even more easily than the delta variant.
Health experts say your best defense remains vaccination and boosters.
“We do not know exactly what happens to this variant, but I will assume – and I think it is a reasonable assumption – that when you are vaccinated and boosted and your level rises a lot, you will have some degree of protection, at least against serious illness, “said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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New York City Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said that previous infection may not provide protection due to the number of mutations on the variant.
“Preliminary evidence suggests that those who have previously had COVID-19 may be more easily re-infected with omicron,” he said.
Experts say it’s just another reason to get vaccinated.
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE
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New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
Center for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus
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