What to Know
- New York City is set to reach a milestone Thursday, as six million New Yorkers will have received at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine -- a staggering 85 percent.
- Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to encourage those who have not gotten vaccinated to do so. At the rate the city is going, de Blasio said, there are only about one million adult New Yorkers left that need to receive the COVID shot.
- De Blasio went on to say that another "encouraging trend" that the city has been seeing is that "as vaccinations have gone up, hospitalizations have gone down."
New York City is set to reach a milestone Thursday, as six million New Yorkers will have received at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine -- a staggering 85 percent.
Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement during his daily press briefing Thursday, saying "today is going to be one of those milestone days in our fight against covid" and calling the lofty figure "unbelievable."
"This is a staggering figure," he said. "This is how we are coming back. When you look around the country and you see other places that are struggling -- and I feel horrible for them -- in a lot of cases it's because their leaders didn’t do the right thing and didn’t focus on vaccination. Here together we did."
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De Blasio went on to say that while the figures show more than 84 percent have gotten at least one dose, a great percentage of those have already gone back to receive their second dose in a two-dose vaccination series.
"Six million people who have gone and done the right thing for themselves, for their families, their community gotten at least the first dose – a lot of those people, of course the vast majority, have gotten the second dose by now as well," he said.
According to de Blasio, as of Thursday, over 84 percent of New York City adults have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Teenagers (12 and over) are at 75 percent vaccinated with at least one dose. (Pfizer is the only COVID-19 two-dose vaccine approved for individuals 12 years and older. Moderna, another two-dose vaccine, is approved for those 18 years and older. Johnson & Johnson, the only one dose vaccine available in the United States, is also only approved for those 18 years and older.)
"As of now, over 84 percent of new York city adults have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Over 84 percent! That’s a super, super majority!," the mayor said. "I like to say, when have you ever seen 84 percent of new Yorkers agree on anything else? Young people, teenagers, 75 percent already vaccinated."
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De Blasio went on to say that another "encouraging trend" that the city has been seeing is that "as vaccinations have gone up, hospitalizations have gone down."
Dr. Mitch Katz, the head of NYC Health + Hospitals, also said the city currently has the lowest hospitalization rate since the start of the pandemic. From a high of about 3,000 daily COVID patients at the height of the pandemic, the city’s 11 public hospitals now has just 70 COVID patients. Additionally, at the peak, H+H saw 960 in the ICU at their hospitals, but now that figure is at 16.
The mayor continues to encourage those who have not gotten vaccinated to do so. At the rate the city is going, de Blasio said, there are only about one million adult New Yorkers left that need to receive the COVID shot.
"At this point, there is only about one million adults left to be vaccinated and they keep coming in. The incentives the mandates, everything’s working," de Blasio said.
"We are so close to where we need to get. We have more work todo, COVID is not leaving us immediately, we have real work to do to finish this mission. Everyone can be a part of it. We can get there."
