The wait is over for families looking to get their young children vaccinated against COVID-19.
Starting Tuesday, privately run vaccination sites across the city began administering COVID-19 doses to children as young as 6 months old.
In the Bronx, at the Montefiore Comprehensive Family Care Center, NY1 reporter Amy Yensi spotted families lining up early to be among the first to protect their children against the virus.
One mother Yensi spoke with said it's been a moment both she and her child had been waiting for for quite some time.
“He’s so happy. He’s been waiting for two years to be vaccinated,” Anna Weiser said while holding her newly vaccinated youngster.
Registration for the shots at city-run vaccination sites began Tuesday as well, though administration of COVID-19 vaccines at those sites will start Wednesday. According to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, the mayor's office confirmed scheduling will open at 9 p.m.
Parents can today begin using New York City’s COVID-19 Vaccine Finder to find locations across the five boroughs to vaccinate their young children. The shots will be offered at 10 city vaccine hubs, where the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will be available for children aged six-months through five years of age.
Those locations include Times Square, the Queens Center Mall, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and Empire Outlets on Staten Island.
The Pfizer vaccine will also be available at non-city sites to children six months and above, according to the mayor’s office.
The FDA on Friday authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old.
Following the FDA's authorization, a panel of independent advisers to the CDC unanimously voted Saturday to recommend the shots for kids under five.
FDA reviewers said both brands’ vaccines appear to be safe and effective for children as young as 6 months old. Side effects, including fever and fatigue, were generally minor in both, and less common than seen in adults.