Nassau Launching Effort To Vaccinate High Schoolers

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Nassau County is beginning to push for eligible teens to get vaccinated against the coronavirus to help boost herd immunity. To help, the county will be holding a series of high school vaccination days at Nassau Community College from May 13 through 16.

In partnership with the school and Northwell Health, the county will be administering doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which is approved for people age 16 and up. County officials are aiming to vaccinate 500 teens per day over the course of the event.

"To soundly defeat this pandemic and return to normal life, we need as many people as possible to roll up their sleeves," said County Executive Laura Curran. "And now it's time for the young folks."

Students can register for a time slot to receive the vaccine by clicking here. Vaccines are free.

The county is also reaching out to students to help get the word out. Officials are recruiting student ambassadors to help encourage other teens to get vaccinated. The ambassadors will be trained by the county Department of Health on what the vaccines do so they can answer questions from their peers.

To encourage students to help, all of the student ambassadors will receive two days worth of community service. And any student who gets vaccinated at the event at Nassau Community College will receive six hours of community service.

Curran said it was hard for students to get community service during the pandemic because so many events were canceled and venues were closed. She said that when the county asked students, that they said they wanted community service hours.

"I would argue that it is a community service," said Curran. "When you get vaccinated, you're not only protecting yourself, you're protecting your grandparents, parents and the vulnerable in the community. And you're allowing our world to get back to normal."

Curran and Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, the county's health commissioner, will be hosting a virtual town hall at 6 p.m. on May 12 to answer questions from student ambassadors about the vaccine. You can watch on Facebook.

Eisenstein said that the timing of the vaccination drive means that students who get their shots will be fully vaccinated by mid-June. That means they can have normal graduations and won't have to be quarantined over the summer if they're exposed to someone with the virus.

Nicolette Carrion, a 2020 Baldwin High School graduate and chair of the Nassau County Youth Council, said it's important for teens to get vaccinated so they can go back to living normal lives.

"It's hard to deal with COVID-19, and I think we really have to recognize that," she said. "COVID is devastating. It's traumatic. And we have to accept that now there is a solution, and we have to trust it."