More Vaccines for 5–11 Year Olds Available at Select Schools Beginning November 17

It’s time for even more NYC students to get the best protection available for COVID-19.

Earlier this month, public schools across the five boroughs provided City students with thousands of doses of Pfizer’s recently approved COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5–11 years old. The response from NYC families was fantastic—during the first week, over 26,000 City public school students got the best protection available against COVID-19 at their school sites.

Given your feedback, we are happy to announce that select NYC public schools will offer two additional days to obtain in-school COVID-19 vaccinations on November 17 and 18.

As the only FDA/CDC-approved COVID-19 vaccine for children, the Pfizer children’s vaccine is two doses, given 21 days apart. This dose is smaller than the dosage given to people who are 12 years old and older. You do not need to have health insurance or share your immigration status to have your child vaccinated.

The process is free, quick, and easy—no health insurance or appointment is needed. Parents/guardians can simply walk in with their students on their school’s designated vaccination date. Vaccines are administered by trained medical professionals, and all records and information associated with vaccination are kept confidential.

To see if your school is offering vaccines November 17–18, contact your school or check out our School Vaccine Sites webpage.

Note that students aged 5–11 years old must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or by an adult designated by a parent or guardian, to receive their vaccine. If a student is accompanied by an adult who is not the student’s parent or guardian, the vaccine provider must either obtain verbal consent from the student’s parent or guardian by phone at the time of vaccination, or request a completed consent form that has been signed by the student’s parent or guardian. A copy of this consent form can also be found on our School Vaccine Sites webpage.

For more information about these in-school vaccinations, including details regarding cash incentives, check out our prior coverage on The Morning Bell, visit the City’s official COVID-19 Vaccine page, or call (212) COVID-19 (212-268-4319). We also suggest that you please speak with your health provider with any questions or concerns that you may have that are specific to any particular medical conditions that you or your child may be experiencing.

Remember, everyone—our recovery starts with YOU.

On behalf of the NYC Department of Education, we thank all of our medical professionals and agency partners who are helping New Yorkers to get through the COVID-19 pandemic!

Banner photo by Kamaji Ogino. Used under Creative Commons license. Original can be found on Pexels.