Mayor lauds 80% vaccination rate in city as a ‘major milestone’

About 80% of adults living in New York City have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine as of Friday, according to Mayor de Blasio, who touted the rate as a “major milestone” in the city’s battle with the pandemic.

“This is a big deal, and I hope New Yorkers appreciate that this is because New Yorkers came forward, because we mounted the biggest vaccination effort in the city’s history,” he said Friday on Brian Lehrer’s radio show. “This is how we end the COVID era.”

De Blasio noted that the vaccination rate among younger people between the ages of 12 and 17 is also climbing and is now near 70% in the Big Apple.

Earlier in the pandemic, experts set an 80% rate as the goal to reach to achieve herd immunity against the virus, but lower vaccination rates nationwide and the spread of the delta variant appear to have either moved the goalposts or put that goal out of reach altogether.

Herd immunity is essentially achieved when there are too few carriers for a virus to spread widely.

De Blasio called the discussion over herd immunity “an ongoing debate” and continued to emphasize the need for vaccinations. He then credited the vaccination mandates he’s laid out for some city employees as well as others from business leaders with causing “a lot more people to get vaccinated.”

Hizzoner predicted a “surge” in vaccinations in the coming weeks and continued to hold out hope that an emergency approval would soon be granted for vaccines for children between 5 and 11.

The city is now administering vaccines in more than 700 of its public school buildings.

“We expect a lot more vaccinations in the next few weeks, particularly among younger people,” de Blasio said. “We could literally end the COVID era and make COVID, in effect, the equivalent of what we deal with each year with the flu — we could do that as early as next year if we continue this success with vaccination.”