At her Tuesday, January 31 press briefing, Governor Kathy Hochul expressed optimism over COVID-19 case numbers in New York, but also disappointment over low vaccination rates among children, saying they are “nowhere close to where they should be.”
Hochul ushered in the month of February by reporting just over 7,000 COVID-19 cases in the state.
“This is a beautiful sight my friends, we’ve been waiting for this,” said Governor Hochul. “It’s hard to believe on January 7 we had 90,000 positive cases in our state.”
State data says only 28% of five to 11 years old children are vaccinated, according to WSYR-TV. Onondaga County has a slightly better rate at 31.5%.
Hochul is now pushing for two incentives to encourage more parents to get their children vaccinated. She’s calling on the federal government to make all insurers cover COVID-19 vaccine consultations. In addition, she wants insurance companies to offer customers incentives for getting the vaccine.
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