Ramping up efforts to get kids vaccinated
Officials: 900,000 U.S. children ages 5-11 get COVID-19 vaccine
An 8-year-old boy receives a COVID-19 shot from a doctor at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park last Thursday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
More than 900,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 across the U.S. were expected to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the day Wednesday, White House officials said.
Newsday's Lisa L. Colangelo writes in this story that 18,603 children in the 5-11 category outside of New York City had received their first shot as of Wednesday, state health department officials said, and New York State has placed orders for 700,000 doses.
On Long Island, 125 providers ordered a total of 69,900 doses, the state said, with another 27,600 ordered by Long Island chain pharmacies through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.
The state has been ramping up efforts to get more kids vaccinated, in part by offering a chance at full college scholarships to CUNY and SUNY schools. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday that scholarships will go to 50 winners of a lottery open to children between 5 and 11 who get vaccinated between Nov. 22 and Dec. 20.
Suffolk County opened a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for kids ages 5 to 17 at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. And Allied Physicians Group has scheduled a two-day mass vaccination event for children this weekend at Coleman Country Day Camp in Freeport and Crestwood Country Day Camp in Melville.
"I am in favor of almost anything that will incentivize people to get vaccinated," said Dr. Aaron Glatt, chairman of medicine and chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital in Oceanside. "It is the opinion of most experts in the field that the more people we vaccinate, the more likely we will be able to prevent the development of resistant variant strains, and more importantly, prevent illness and death in the general population."
More resources: Local doctors discussed in this webinar on Newsday Live where shots are available, what you can expect when getting an appointment and more. And, we have a guide for where to get your kids vaccinated.
The chart below shows the percentage of Long Islanders who have been vaccinated.
This chart shows the percentages of all Long Islanders who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and those who are fully vaccinated.
View this chart and more showing the latest local trends in new cases, testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more on our data page.
See more coronavirus headlines below.
Erin Serpico is an assistant web producer who joined Newsday in November 2018. Originally from New Jersey, she now covers community events and produces local content for newsday.com while also helping run the homepage.
