(CNN) — New York City will send buses to beaches and parks over Memorial Day weekend to offer free COVID-19 vaccinations, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.
“We’re going to go the extra mile, whatever it takes,” de Blasio said. “You will see our vaccination buses all over New York City in the next few days.”
He added: “Go, get vaccinated, go to the beach. It’s really simple.
New Yorkers can expect to see buses in places like Brighton Beach, the Rockaways, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Central Park and Governors Island, he said.
The mayor also said the city has vaccinated more than 9,000 homebound people and will expand the program to include disabled people and people 75 and older.
As of Thursday morning, the city had administered 8,130,889 doses of the covid-19 vaccines.
Across the United States, half the adult population is fully vaccinated, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and for those people, This Memorial Day weekend – an event identified as a major source of spread, last year – may look a lot like it was before 2020.
“Thanks to vaccines, tens of millions of Americans can return to something closer to the normal visitation of friends and family,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday at the coronavirus briefing in the White House.
However, the CDC guidance has not changed for those who are not vaccinated, as they are still at risk of infection, Walensky said this week.
“If you are not vaccinated, I want to encourage you to take advantage of this holiday weekend to give yourself and your family the gift of protection by getting vaccinated,” Walensky said. “We are on a good downward path, but we are not out of the woods yet.”
– CNN’s Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.
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