
Everything You Need to Know About Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine in New York
Here's what you need to know about how to get vaccinated in New York.
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A vaccine drive-through mega-site opened at Jones Beach on Thursday, Jan. 14.
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When can children get vaccinated?
Beginning April 6 in New York, older teens at least 16-years-old will be eligible for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
Pfizer-BioNTech reported on Wednesday, March 31 that the vaccine is "extremely effective" in adolescents ages 12-15. According to NPR, the vaccine elicited "100 percent efficacy and robust antibody responses" and no serious side effects in a trial including 2,260 participants between the ages 12-15. These results were said to be even better than early responses from participants ages 16-25.
Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla said in a news release about the trial that the results will be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency in the coming weeks "with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year." They will ask the regulators to expand authorizations for the vaccine to be used in young people.
In Pfizer's clinical trial, 18 adolescents in the placebo group developed COVID-19 and 0 in the vaccinated group did. Those in the vaccinated group showed a strong immune response one month after receipt of the second vaccine dose, according to test data released by Pfizer.
The companies are currently working toward testing the vaccine in children as young as six months. A group of kids ages 5-11 years old received their first shots for the first part of that study last week and a second group, ages 2-5, are slated to receive first doses next week.
Moderna is also testing its vaccine in adolescents, having announced a trial of approximately 3,000 participants ages 12-18 in December. Earlier this month, it administered the first vaccine dose to children six months old to 12 years old.
Johnson & Johnson is slated to test its vaccine on a small number of adolescents, with plans to expand pending safety.