New York City officials will park mobile vaccine buses outside popular nightlife destinations in the city in an effort to get younger New Yorkers vaccinated, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.
“We’re going to go where young New Yorkers are,” de Blasio said, adding that mobile vaccine buses have already been to nightlife areas in Bushwick, Astoria, the Lower East Side and Inwood.
The program, nicknamed “Shots and Shots,” will focus on downtown Brooklyn and the West Village this Thursday and Friday night, de Blasio said.
The Mayor’s son, Dante, will also be on hand to encourage young adults to get vaccinated. Additionally, the mayor said some individual businesses will also offer their own concurrent incentives, such as offering a “shot for a shot.”
De Blasio added that everyone should “drink responsibly, of course.”
“We’re sending one of our best agents, outreach ambassador Dante de Blasio,” de Blasio said. “Dante claims he’s going to use his DJ skills to attract Zillennials to come over and get vaccinated.”
New York City is also continuing its efforts to get children ages 12 to 17 vaccinated as well. In addition to in-school vaccinations beginning in the Bronx on Friday, the city will soon be hosting “Youth Vax Block Parties” in various neighborhoods to reach more 12- to 17-year-olds by hosting community events with pediatricians to answer questions and offer information to parents and kids.
So far, 8,373,820 vaccine doses have been administered in New York City, de Blasio said.
