The Bronx reached a milestone in its boroughwide vaccination rates entering Wednesday, reaching the 60% threshold of residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the latest health data released by the city.
While the northernmost borough’s vaccination totals are still below the city’s 73% vaccination rate, the Bronx’s fully vaccinated population is at 69%, with 60% of residents having received at least one dose.
Morris Park’s 10461 zip code continues to pace the Bronx’s vaccination rate with 78.9% of its resident receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. Three other Bronx zip codes — Riverdale’s 10471 (76.8%), Parkchester’s 10462 (76.7%) and City Island’s 10464 (76.3%) — continue to outpace the rest of the borough’s vaccination rates as well as the overall citywide rate.
The increase in vaccinations over the past few weeks is an encouraging sign for the Bronx’s continued progress against COVID-19, with the borough averaging 110 new confirmed cases per day, as of Oct. 24. There have been 199,452 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Bronx.
For the second straight week, Bronx area codes continue to perform well when it comes it cases per 100,000 residents data.
Despite having one of the Bronx’s highest vaccination rates, Riverdale’s 10471 zip code is averaging 7.4 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000, entering Wednesday, the highest case rate in the borough. The Belmont/Claremont 10457 zip code is also averaging 7.4 cases.
On Oct. 25, the Bronx reported 61 new case totals, one of its lowest single-day case totals since the Delta variant began spreading throughout the city in mid-summer, according to data from the state Department of Health.
On the national front, an independent panel of vaccine experts said on Oct. 25 that the Food and Drug Administration should grant emergency authorization to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to children 5-11 years old.
According to the Biden administration, nationwide efforts are underway to make vaccines available to roughly 28 million eligible children by the first week of November. White House officials said they have already acquired enough doses to vaccinate every child in that 5-11 age group.
Additionally, Moderna said this week, that a low dose of its vaccine is safe and appears to work in 6- to 11-year-olds, as the manufacturer moves toward expanding shots to children.
However, legal battles and NYC protests have fueled opposition in the wake of city Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new COVID vaccine mandate for all municipal workers, including police officers and firefighters.
Under the outgoing mayor’s new requirement, all city workers need to get their first shot by Nov. 1. The city’s previous vaccine requirement only applied to Department of Education staff and health care workers at the public NYC Health + Hospitals.
Between Oct. 20 and Oct. 29, city employees will receive an extra $500 in their paycheck for receiving their first shot at city-run vaccine sites, the mayor said.
Unvaccinated employees will be placed on unpaid leave until they show proof of vaccination to their supervisor.
Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter @bronxtimes and Facebook @bronxtimes.
