NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – New York City is ready to begin giving COVID-19 vaccines to kids ages 5 to 11 within 24 hours of approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.
“Within 24 hours of the CDC guidance, vaccination for the youngest New Yorkers, 5 to 11, will be available at the city-run sites,” de Blasio said at a City Hall briefing. “And then within 48 hours, the vaccinations will be available at pediatrician offices, pharmacies and other types of vaccination sites.”
On Tuesday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot for children ages 5 to 11.
The FDA is expected to make its own decision soon. If the FDA agrees with the panel, the CDC will then decide whether to recommend the shots and which youngsters should get them.
De Blasio said the city anticipates vaccines for kids will be approved and is already setting the wheels in motion for vaccinations.
“This is the moment parents have been waiting for,” the mayor said. “New York City will be ready. We’re so ready, so happy this moment is coming.”
Full-strength shots made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are already recommended for everyone 12 years and older.
De Blasio also announced Thursday that the city had reached 12 million doses of the vaccine administered since vaccinations began. He called the milestone “unbelievable” and that it “says so much about why the city is coming back and coming back strong.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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