Office Of The Mayor Of New York City: Transcript: Mayor De Blasio Holds Media Availability

Press release from Office of the Mayor of New York City:

November 9, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, we see really, really good news out there when it comes to vaccinations and we know vaccinations keep us safe, vaccination is what's allowing us to move forward. New York City is now the safest place to be in the United States of America because you went out and got vaccinated, and because more people are getting vaccinated every day, because the mandates are working, because now we can finally reach our five- to 11-year-olds. This is really great news for the kids in New York City, for the families in New York City. And we have been seeing great response at our vaccination site. Here's some breaking news, yesterday at our school sites alone, over 4,500 kids got vaccinated. Now, remember we had sites at some of our schools. Throughout the week and into next week we're going to have sites at all of our schools that serve five- to 11-year-olds. But already 4,500 kids got vaccinated at our schools yesterday. Grand total, since vaccination began for the five- to 11-year-olds, almost 25,000 kids. It's amazing. So, we see that parents are coming out, getting their kids vaccinated. We expect this to grow a lot in the coming days. This is another way we keep our city safe, and we move forward. And I want to hear – I want you to hear, I should say, I want you to hear from two of the heroes of this effort. When the history is written about how New York City overcame COVID and came back strong, these are two of the people who are going to get a lot of praise for what they did. Our Schools Chancellor, Meisha Ross Porter, and our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. And they're on location at Central Park East School in East Harlem. Dave, Meisha, are you there? 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. I'm so excited to be here this morning with Dr. Chokshi here at Central Park East II in Harlem. Thank you, Principal Smith, for hosting this day. Today, we are doing vaccinations, day two. And I'm so excited to be here with our families, with our students who have so many reasons why this day is important. So, Dr. Chokshi and I'm going to go talk to some of our friends who are here today, who are ready to do a lot of things, including getting vaccinated this morning. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Here we go. Let's meet – who's getting vaccinated this morning? What are your names? 

Carter: Carter. 

Lila: My name is Lila. I already got vaccinated actually.  

Chancellor Porter: How'd it go for you?  

Lila: [Inaudible] 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. Good. Very good. And so, we're going to – you're going to be the brave one and show all the world how we're ready to get vaccinated, right, Carter? All right. Wonderful. We’re so excited. And what's super special today is we have two sets of twins getting vaccinated at the same time, but I know we've heard so much from our parents about their why. And so, Dad, you want to tell us a little bit about why this is important for you today? 

Unknown: You know, we've just been doing what we can to keep our families safe, keep our community safe. And when the adults – when it was our turn, we did it. When our 12-year-old turn – you know, when it was his turn, and now for these guys. We just, you know, we're ready to do what we can. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. And that's been so important. You know, Dr. Chokshi and I have talked to so many families, who've just talked about keeping healthy and keeping the community safe and you know that’s super important. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's absolutely right. As we're getting set up here, you know, the Chancellor and I were at a school yesterday as well. Over 4,400 students got vaccinated yesterday across our schools. And just as you were saying, Chancellor, the best part is hearing the whys. Some of the whys that we heard yesterday were about gathering more safely over the holidays with kids’ grandparents, with playing sports more safely, or to protect an even younger sibling, you know, that people have at home. But maybe my favorite one from yesterday was, ‘everyone else in my family has already gotten vaccinated, I'm the only one left.’ And so, it's really wonderful to be able to get everyone protected in the way the vaccination brings. So, without further ado, let's get some more folks vaccinated. Lila, do you have any advice for Carter?  

Lila: No.  

[Laughter] 

Commissioner Chokshi: You're on your own Carter.  

[Carter receives COVID-19 vaccine]  

Chancellor Porter: [Inaudible] because they’re ready. They’re excited.  

Commissioner Chokshi: All right. Please introduce yourselves to start. What's your name? 

Taylor: My name is Taylor.  

Tiana: And I’m Tiana.  

Commissioner Chokshi: And how do you guys feel this morning? 

Taylor: I feel pretty excited. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Pretty excited.  

Tiana: I'm really scared.  

Chancellor Porter: So, we have a mix of feelings. So, Mom, tell us why this was important for you this morning.  

Unknown: This is extremely important, you know, for us, for our family. I personally lost six family members to COVID and I'm just happy for us to just get protected and stay healthy and safe. 

Chancellor Porter: Well, you heard it here. What's your name again, honey?  

Taylor: My name is Taylor. 

Chancellor Porter: Taylor is going to go be the brave one. And she's going to show her sister how it's done. But what you hear over and over again from so many families, ‘we've had loss, we want to travel, we want to get back to what is our new normal for our city, for our system, we want to protect our community.’ But most of all, the young people across this city have said, Mayor, I don't know if you've heard this, that they are going to be brave and they're going to step forward because they want to be healthy. So, I'm going to let Dr. Chokshi lead us to our next vaccine. 

Commissioner Chokshi: All right. So, the thing that I'll say, first of all, is to give a shout out to all of the vaccinators, like Sabrina, our nurse here – 

[Applause] 

People have been working so hard to get New York City vaccinated and we are truly grateful to all of the nurses, pharmacists, doctors, everyone. But it takes everyone rolling up their sleeves. So, thank you, Taylor. And here we go.  

[Taylor receives COVID-19 vaccine] 

[Applause] 

Nicely done. 

Chancellor Porter: So, Tiana, what do you think? You watched Taylor.  

Tiana: It doesn't seem that hard.  

[Laughter] 

Commissioner Chokshi: What do you say, Taylor?  

Taylor: I beat COVID. 

[Applause] 

Chancellor Porter: You heard it from Taylor [inaudible] beating COVID one vaccine at a time.  

Commissioner Chokshi: You can’t beat that.  

Chancellor Porter: Thank you so much. We'll pass it back [inaudible]-- 

Commissioner Chokshi: Back over to you.  

[Applause] 

Mayor: I love it.  

[Applause] 

Talk about a happy scene. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That was amazing.  

Chancellor Porter: That was amazing. 

Mayor: Absolutely amazing. That was beautiful. Let me tell you, that is an amazing scene. To see all those kids ready to go, parents there excited to make sure the kids are safe. And, of course, Dr. Chokshi and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, amazing, amazing enthusiasm they bring to it. Listen to what the kids said. It didn't seem that hard. That's the truth. It's easy to get vaccinated. It isn't hard. And then I love what the other child said. “I beat COVID.” “I beat COVID.” This is how we all beat COVID. Getting vaccinated is how we beat COVID once and for all. Look at the kids, the kids often see things even more clearly than the adults. They get it. So, what a beautiful scene there at Central Park East. Look, that kind of scene was playing out yesterday, all over the city at schools and will be again today, throughout the week, into next week.  

We saw a lot of energy. We saw a lot of schools where there was great demand. Now that's a wonderful thing. There were some places where we had to do better, and we had to get supply to them and get additional help. And we did that. There's about a dozen sites where there were lines. We sent mobile vans, vaccination vans, to those sites to make sure that people could be accommodated, but it's also been a good signal to us that there's more demand at those school sites than we anticipated. So, today we're going to have 24 mobile vaccination units out at schools around the city where we think demand will be high. We've added additional vaccinators, additional staff to make sure we can accommodate any parents and kids who show up to get their kids vaccinated. This is really promising that parents are embracing this the way they are.  

Now, you saw there, the kids’ different reactions, some a little bit more scared, some a little bit more eager. But what's clear is, kids really perceive a lot. I can say, as a parent, I was always amazed even in the youngest years, what my kids were able to see. And I want to tell you about a note I got from little five-year-old Indiana Chang at P. S. 19 who sent a note, it’s a beautiful note you see there. And she said she was going to be brave. She knew it was important to get vaccinated. She was going to be brave. She was. She was fearless. She got vaccinated. She’s safe now. Congratulations, Indiana. Congratulations to all the kids, all the parents whose kids got vaccinated. This is moving us forward.  

Now, I want you to hear from someone who really understands how important this moment is and how important it is for families to get the answers they need and get their kids vaccinated. She has led the way on the national effort to get kids vaccinated. She has been a voice helping parents understand the science, the medical facts that they need. She's been out-front encouraging vaccination for young kids and is literally the top pediatrician in the nation as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Lee Beers.  

[...] 

Thank you, doctor. Doctor, we were all able to see an absolutely precious moment there. And I feel like, you know, I loved your reaction to it. I feel like this is what it's all about. Just going out to the people, giving them the chance to be safe and, look, the kids are leading the way, Doctor. 

Dr. Lee Beers: They always do. They always do.  

Mayor: Amen. Thank you. And listen, everyone, I want you to hear from someone else who has been such a powerful voice on the importance of folks getting vaccinated, the importance of having vaccine equity, reaching people in communities, and he's also a parent and he has a four-year-old who will soon be reaching five and be ready to be vaccinated as well. So, he has a lot of different perspectives on how important this moment is. My pleasure to introduce the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee in the City Council, Council Member Steve Levin. 

[...]  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. And congratulations that your child will soon be one to get vaccinated, and that's just good for everyone. Thank you very, very much for your support for this initiative. And now, everyone, I want you to hear from a member of the State Assembly. No one has done more over the years to increase access to health care for people all over the city, all over this state. And this vaccination effort, which has now reached an astounding level, where everyone is reached for free, where the vaccine is brought to the grassroots, and now the youngest New Yorkers, really epitomizes the kind of things he's been fighting for, for years. He is the Chair of the Health Committee in the New York State Assembly. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Richard Gottfried.  

[...]  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member. You're right, the kids are showing us something. They have definitely gotten the point of how important it is to be safe from this disease. So, it was beautiful to watch. And thank you as always for all you do for us in Albany.  

All right, everyone. So, that's good news, but let's talk about some other good news in terms of bringing this city back and the recovery in New York City. We have been waiting now for a long, long time, 18 months, in fact, for the restrictions to be lifted so travelers from other countries could come back to New York City. We know how many people love this place. We know how many people have been waiting to come back here. It's finally here. International travel opened up yesterday, thousands and thousands of travelers arriving already, fully vaccinated, I'm happy to say. People are reuniting with loved ones. They're coming back to the city they love. And one of the missing links in our economic recovery, finally, we're seeing it happen. What are we seeing already? Hotel bookings are going up intensely. We're seeing more and more foot traffic in key parts of the city. Fifth Avenue, Times Square. We're seeing tourists come out. They're ready to spend their money in this city. We are so happy about that. Broadway has helped lead the way over these last months. Broadway just welcomed back it's 1,000,000th customer. One million people have been to Broadway shows already in just the last few months. It's unbelievable. Something very big is happening, and I want to give credit to everyone who's been preparing for this day. I'm so excited to see what this will mean. So, many people will get their jobs back now. So much more activity for the good of this city. Someone who has been leading the way with everyone at NYC & Company, they do great work promoting this city to the region, to the country, to the world. And we've invested intensely in that effort to make sure the tourists come back and now it is happening. My pleasure to introduce the President and CEO of NYC & Company, Fred Dixon. 

[...] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Fred. Thank you to you and your team who are doing outstanding work, promoting the city, and getting people to come back. 253 flights arriving yesterday. That's beautiful. That's music to my ears. And people are coming here because it's a great place to be, and it's a safe place to be because we're vaccinated. This is the safest place to be in the United States of America, and the travelers are voting with their feet. They're coming here. We welcome travelers from all around the world. We're particularly anxious to see those travelers come back from the UK, a great bond we share with the people of the UK. We want to see them come here and we have this great partnership going with British Airways, British Airways Holidays. This is really exciting to see this partnership and it's already yielding a great impact for the city. I want you to hear more from one of our top international tourism partners who's doing great work. My pleasure to introduce the Managing Director of British Airways Holidays, Claire Bentley. 

[...] 

Mayor: You have a way with words, Claire. We're really excited to hear that. And, yeah, we had the weather right for you and everything. We are so happy to have travelers coming back from the UK. Thank you for the great, great partnership, and thank you for your enthusiasm and your love for New York City. It's really, really shining through. All right, everyone, look, what you heard from Claire, we're seeing the proof of it. This is something New Yorkers should be so proud of. We're now the number one destination for bookings – any place in the country for American travelers, they are coming here between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Number one destination for international travelers, too. People want to be here. They've missed New York City, and everyone knows the most magical time of the year is between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. And everything's happening. The dining is there. The Broadway's there. Everything's available. People are coming back, and this is going to help supercharge our recovery. So, a really good day for this city.  

Alright, let's go to our indicators. And it all begins with vaccination, this is why we're able to celebrate good news today. And number one, doses administered to-date – 12,163,191. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 99 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 14.02 percent. Hospitalization rate today, 0.49 per 100,000. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 851 cases.

Let me say a few words in Spanish on the vaccine effort for our youngest New Yorkers, particularly at our schools.

[Mayor e Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi; Dr. Mitch Katz; Chancellor Meisha Porter; and Fred Dickson, President and CEO of NYC & Company. Our first question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. If you keep up the pace that you announced today of about 4,000 to 5,000 to 11-year-olds in the schools per day and you get to about 20,000 to 25,000 for the week, where does that leave you percentage-wise? And what do you think the challenge will be after that, reaching the rest of that population?

Mayor: You know, the schools – it's a great question, Andrew, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi a moment. The schools are one piece of a much bigger puzzle. We wanted to make sure that parents who were ready in the very beginning could go to one of the easiest places, the place they know and love – their local school. But what we also know is a huge percentage of parents are really going to focus on their pediatrician and that's the place they're going to be more comfortable, that – going to the pediatrician's office, connecting the child with the doctor they know. We want to move this effort energetically. So, I'd say it will take a while, because so many of these vaccinations will be given at pediatrician's offices. But we like what we see. We like this as a start. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I very much agree, you know, we want it to be swift in setting up as many access points as possible, particularly for this first week of eligibility. And I'm so heartened to the demand that we have at our school sites, in particular. But, at the same time, as the Mayor mentioned, we're focused on the long game as well and we know that many parents will be most comfortable getting their kids vaccinated at a pediatrician whom they trust, or at their neighborhood pharmacy, or at another site. And so, we're going to open up all of those access points. So, we're in this both for the swift access over the next few days, but also over the long-term to get as many kids who are five to 11, of which we estimate they're about 660,000 across New York City to try to get as many of them vaccinated as possible. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Mayor, I'm wondering, the City Council continues to hold remote hearings. This news conference that we're doing right now is essentially remote. Doesn't that sort of contradict the same message that you're saying, the tourists are back, Broadway's back, the hotels are back, everybody's vaccinated. Why are all these events still remote? Is it a PTSD thing? Is it that people are not confident enough to sort of go back to normal in that setting? What is your take?

Mayor: No, I don't feel – that's a good question, Andrew. I don't feel that at all. I think different places are figuring out what they want to do, going forward. It there's certainly advantages to remote in terms of legislative bodies, where people are all over the city, or, in the case of the state, the same all over the state. Even the federal government, allowing people to vote from different places – there's value in it. What we need to focus on is, what's the best way to do things? I think what we've been doing lately really works, because we're able to bring in voices from all over the city, all over the nation, and allow journalists to participate where they are. I think it just works. I don't think it's anything but that. It works. It's a good way of doing things over time. People will make whatever adjustments they feel makes sense. But, clearly, we're all living life in-person again in so many ways, and that's fantastic. It really depends on what works for each setting.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Violeta from Univision.

Question: Hi. Good morning. My question is, yesterday, in New York City, there were few issues with the vaccine. Parents were complaining about – oh, I'm here with my kids, they don't have the vaccine, or somebody told me to come here and we don't find anything. It was like, shortage of vaccine, long lines, overwhelming demands. What is the City is going to do about that?

Mayor: Thank you, Violeta. It's a really important question. And we saw that demand, it was actually greater than we expected, which is a very good thing. So, what we've immediately is shifted supply to the schools where there was a high-level demand. We've sent those mobile vaccination vans to schools where we expect high-level demand. We were able to make some of those shifts yesterday when we saw the lines, actually get more vaccine, or get the mobile vans to the sites immediately. In other cases, we're going to come back to sites to give people additional time. But what we learned yesterday is, there is high demand in some places. We do have the capacity to meet it. We just have to match it and that's what we're doing this morning. I think it's going well so far today. Go ahead, Violeta.

Question: Oh, okay. Was my question – so, the City, for example, today, you're going to send more mobile units [inaudible] places?

Mayor: Yes. Violeta, yesterday, for example, P.S. 40, there was a long line. The solution was to send a mobile vaccine van to that school immediately. And that was able to – you know, that van was able to help address the demand there. We had other schools, like P.S. 33, where there was a lack of doses. Doses were moved immediately over there. So, those adjustments were made. But there's still some to be fixed from yesterday, for sure. So, what we're saying is, any school that was part of yesterday's vaccination effort that has more demand, we'll open up a site again there in the next few days. We want to match the amount of activity at each school to the demand levels. So, we're hearing from the school community that a lot more parents want to come in and get vaccinated, we'll set up an additional day or even multiple days if needed – whatever's going to get the job done.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrea from CBS New York.

Question: Good morning, everyone. I've got a different question about the vaccine effort. There are still communities that have very low uptake of the vaccine for adults with percentages in the 40’s. What are the implications for those neighborhoods?

Mayor: Well, I think it means we've got more work to do. And I want to bring Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi into this, but, I mean, overall – look, the latest today, Andrea, for adults, we're at – in terms of adults in New York City who have gotten at least one dose, we’re just about 87 percent now. That's a staggering figure. That means we've reached all communities, obviously, in a big way. But you're right, there's still some places where we need to do more. I think the grassroots efforts have worked and we're going to continue to emphasize. We have the hundred-dollar incentive available. We're going to continue to do the outreach, working with community groups, houses of worship. Also, we expect more New Yorkers to get vaccinated as part of the public employee mandate. So, there's a lot of pieces still moving. I also think parents coming and seeing their kids getting vaccinated and seeing how important that is, it's going to encourage more family members to join in. Let me bring Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi into this as well. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The one thing I would add to what you said is that I think the mandates are making a difference and not just for people who are subject to the mandates. But I think what's happened with the mandates is all of a sudden a group of people who were unsure, who were reluctant, who didn't know if they wanted to get vaccinated, who were worried about vaccination, got vaccinated. And I think that shows something to their social networks, to their friends, their family. It's a different message than when an enthusiastic person got vaccinated. So, here, we've had people who were reluctant, they got vaccinated, and we're finding that through their social networks, that's increasing the number of people around them who were also reluctant. And I really believe that with all of the success, you're going to see those numbers in the reluctant areas really grow. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: I agree with that 100 percent, doctor. It's amazing what the momentum does to help other people feel good about getting vaccinated. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And I very much agree as well. And let us be clear, the neighborhoods with the highest vaccination rates will be the most protected from COVID-19. That's why we are taking this as seriously and addressing it as energetically as we are, particularly with vaccine requirements, as Dr. Katz has laid out, but joining those with all of our efforts around further lowering barriers to access, for example, through our in-home vaccination program, providing incentives, as the Mayor has described, as well as building vaccine confidence. We do this by working with faith leaders, with community-based organizations. My team goes out and sits down with community physicians and other providers to make sure they have the information they need, the vaccine supply they need, so that they're able to discuss this extraordinarily important medical decision with all of their patients. So, this is an all-hands-on-deck effort and we're not done yet. You're going to see us continue to be committed to increasing those rates as high as we possibly can. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Andrea.

Question: The second question, I think, just to piggyback on what Andrew was saying, Mr. Mayor, do you think that these pressers will be in-person for us in the media? I think that's what his question was [inaudible] –

This press release was produced by Office of the Mayor of New York City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.