NYC prepares to give booster shots next week: De Blasio will open ALL vaccination sites across the city with extended hours to give extra doses to New Yorkers as soon as it is granted FDA approval
New York City will open all of its vaccination sites across the city, with extended hours, to provide New Yorkers with booster shots as the US awaits FDA approval of COVID-19 booster shots.
While the timeline remains uncertain for when exactly the Food and Drug Administration could authorize booster doses to the general public, Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed the city's Booster Shot Plan on Thursday - adding that NYC will be ready to implement it as soon as the plan receives federal authorization.
FDA regulators are set to meet to discuss authorizing the booster shots on Friday, and approval could take place as early as Monday, September 20, De Blasio said.
'We need to be ready to move immediately,' the mayor said during his Thursday press briefing. 'We are ready.'
The mayor's plan would see all 1,900 COVID-19 vaccination sites utilized in administering the booster shots.
Meanwhile, another 25 city-run locations will remain open with extended hours as the demand for boosters increases citywide.
While the timeline remains uncertain for when exactly the FDA could authorize booster doses to the general public, Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed the city's Booster Shot Plan on Thursday
The mayor added that NYC will be ready to implement it as soon as the plan receives federal authorization, which could be as early as Monday, September 20
Pictured: People stand in line to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination site at Grand Central Terminal train station
The city will join in a proactive booster shot outreach campaign in an effort to help residents schedule their shots once the FDA authorizes approval, where workers will be sent out door-to-door.
The mayor added that in needed, the city will hold pop-up weekend booster shoot events to administer an additional 45,000 booster shots per week.
Booster shots will be available to New Yorkers who have already been immunized with the the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. The one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has still yet to be approved for booster shots, the New York Daily News reports.
The country's top public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have long said booster shots will likely become be recommended as the more contagious delta variant continues to spike nationwide.
A commuter (pictured) receives a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the opening of MTA's public vaccination program
A man enters an observation area after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination at a mobile vaccination center in Brooklyn
De Blasio discussed hospital admissions for positive COVID-19 cases while explaining the city's Booster Shot Plan Thursday
Earlier this month however, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and FDA said that officials are still in the process of pouring through data while adding that Pfizer will likely be the only booster vaccine cleared in time before October.
And while the immediate rollout of booster shots remains uncertain, vaccination rates are steadily increasing across the city and state, with 80 percent of NYC's adult population receiving at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday, the city's Health Department reports.
Meanwhile, 60 percent of the total population, including eligible children, have been fully vaccinated, with over 11 million doses administered citywide, according to the data.
Nationwide, there have been a total of 382 million doses administered and 180 million people fully vaccinated, or roughly 54.7 percent of the country, according to Our World in Data.
As of Thursday, 41.6 million people in the US have been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 1.06 million cases were in New YorkCity.
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