COVID sites in NYC transition to respond to monkeypox virus

New York City will transition some of its COVID-19 vaccination sites for children under the age of 5 next week. 

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene cited a recent decrease in demand for the sites, as well as greater access to coronavirus vaccines.

“The number of vaccinations at the city’s kid COVID-19 vaccine sites has decreased in recent weeks and we always planned to transition vaccination for very young children to providers. In fact, nearly 500 providers in New York City have administered vaccines to this age group,” a spokesman told Fox News Digital. 

“Due to the ongoing monkeypox emergency, we transitioned some of these sites to administer monkeypox vaccine,” he said.

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The final day of pediatric vaccines at the affected sites will be Aug. 14. 

No appointments will be canceled and anyone with an existing appointment at one of the sites will be rescheduled to a nearby baby vaccination site through that Sunday.

All children under the age of 5 who received a first dose vaccine at one of the 10 New York City-run sites were assisted with scheduling a second dose of the vaccine with a pediatric provider.

In addition, a total of 85 pediatric provider sites are located within a mile of a city-run kids vaccination site.

On Aug. 5, three of the kids’ vaccination sites stopped administering the vaccine to that age group and transitioned to administering only the monkeypox vaccine.

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In a letter to the health commissioner, Gale Brewer urged the department to keep sites open, noting that public schools start imminently.

Children in the age group have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccines for less than two months.

In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended vaccines for all children 6 months through 5 years of age. 

The move expanded eligibility to nearly 20 million additional children. 

Data from the department shows the daily average of cases in the Big Apple stands at 3,110, with 12 deaths. Those numbers are both down from earlier in the month.

According to Fox 5 New York, monkeypox cases in New York City have topped 2,000.

Poliovirus has also been detected in city wastewater and that of nearby counties.