COVID-19 Vaccine (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.)
Oct. 14, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Six million New York City residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
“This is unbelievable,” de Blasio said during his morning press briefing. “Six million people who have gone and done the right thing for themselves and their families, their communities.”
He noted that the large number of vaccinations is a sign that the city is recovering from the pandemic — by reducing the number of seriously ill residents in need of hospitalization.
“This is how we’re coming back,” de Blasio said. “What has it meant? As vaccinations have gone up, hospitalizations have gone down.”
The city’s seven-day average hospitalization rate dipped to 0.69 per 100,000 residents — a new low, the mayor said.
“It’s so encouraging to see this trend — to see how consistent it is,” de Blasio said. “Every single day we’re seeing more and more vaccinations and that powerful movement downward with hospitalizations.”
More than 84 percent of adults in New York City have had at least one dose of the vaccine and about 75% of city teens 12 and older have had at least one shot.
Younger New Yorkers are expected to soon be vaccinated in large numbers — raising the city’s overall vaccination rate — once the FDA approves the vaccines for children age 11 and younger.
Queens continues to lead the rest of the boroughs in terms of vaccination rates. About 91 percent of adults — or more than 1.6 million people — in the borough have gotten at least one dose, according to city data.
At this point, there are only about a million adults in the city left to be vaccinated, de Blasio said, adding that New York City is one of the safest places to be in the country in light of the virus.
“Because of vaccinations, we are limiting this disease and slowly but surely putting it behind us — ending the COVID era once and for all,” he said.
However, de Blasio added that the pandemic is not over yet. He asked New Yorkers to encourage their unvaccinated friends and family to roll up their sleeves and get the shot.
“We’re so close to where we need to get,” de Blasio said. “We got more work to do, COVID’s not leaving us immediately.”
