The city is opening COVID-19 vaccination sites at all-ages Big Apple attractions including the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Bronx Zoo — as a way to encourage family inoculations, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
“This is a great way to make vaccination even more fun – make it something for the whole family, make the whole family safe,” de Blasio said during a City Hall press briefing.
As of Thursday, New Yorkers can get jabbed at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights and will be rewarded with a free same-day admission ticket and a family pass for a future visit.
“It combines a vaccination in a really encouraging, positive place … but also incentivizes folks because you get to enjoy the museum,” Hizzoner said.
Another immunization site will open at the Bronx Zoo in Fordham on Friday. Those who get the shot at the zoo will get a free ticket for a future visit.
And “soon,” de Blasio said, there will be a site at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island with same ticket deal offered.
“This is the kind of approach that will really encourage families to come on out together,” de Blasio said.
Last week, New York started offering vaccines to kids ages 12 to 15 after the feds approved Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for adolescents.
De Blasio reminded New Yorkers that they can still get vaccinated under the famed big blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History.
“I think a lot of younger people are going to love the idea of getting vaccinated there below the whale,” de Blasio said. “It’s something they’ll be able to talk about for the rest of their lives, something positive, something fun.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that anyone who gets the shot at one of the state’s 10 inoculation locations from May 24 to May 28 will get a free scratch-off state lottery ticket — worth $20 — for a chance to win $5 million.
He noted that there has been a 43 percent decline in the number of people getting vaccinated across the Empire State.
New York City has administered more than 7.7 million vaccine doses to date with more than 4 million first doses given. Some 48 percent of the city’s population has had at least one dose, and 40 percent are fully vaccinated.
“More vaccination equals less COVID, equals more freedom. That’s what we’re seeing right now,” said de Blasio, noting that COVID-19 rates continue to drop.
Gotham’s infection rate on a seven-day rolling average was at 1.37 percent, the latest city data shows.
According to the data, 90 people were admitted to city hospitals with suspected COVID-19 on Tuesday and 16 percent of them tested positive for the bug.
The city’s seven-day rolling average of new virus cases was at 513.
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks
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