NY to open 120 pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics as part of #VaxtoSchool initiative

The state will be opening 120 pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics across New York in the next 12 weeks as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s #VaxtoSchool initiative.
The first pop-up clinic in the Hudson Valley area will be at the Yonkers Public Library on Friday. Residents can bring their kids from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. to get their COVID-19 shots.
Hochul says pop-up clinics will be stationed in communities where vaccination rates are still lagging among children. The goal is to protect them from the virus and keep schools open.
As of right now, 12- to 15-year-old children have the lowest vaccination rates. According to the state Department of Health, 58.9% of them have gotten their shots in the Mid-Hudson.
Westchester is doing very well at just over 75%, but every other county in the region is nowhere near herd immunity.
Orange County has the lowest rate, with only 41.8% of 12- to 15-year-olds vaccinated.
Dr. Robert Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College and former CDC Chief Medical Officer, says history has shown, with polio and measles, that a vaccine mandate to attend school is possible.
"It's going to depend on the shape of the pandemic, how effective we are without a mandate, and how effective the vaccine is in the real world in preventing disease in children who mix in close quarters when they get to school,” he says.
Here is a list of #VaxtoSchool pop-up clinics scheduled to open in the area— they will all be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
9/24
Yonkers Public Library
1500 Central Park Ave., Yonkers
10/1
Yonkers Public Library
1500 Central Park Ave., Yonkers
10/2
Grace Baptist Church
52 S. Sixth Ave., Mount Vernon
10/9
Pilgrim Baptist Church
80 N. Franklin St., Nyack
10/30
Pilgrim Baptist Church
80 N. Franklin St., Nyack