This comes after an Food and Drug Administration panel recommended a lower dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

Hochul says there are more than 1.5 million kids between the ages of 5 and 11 that are impacted by the news, something she called a "breakthrough" that she, along with parents and schools, have been waiting for.

Hochul says conversations about this have been going on for weeks and that the state has already made an initial order of over 380,000 doses of that lower-dose vaccine, with 231,000 of those shots going to New York City.
While she won't be putting in a vaccine mandate for schools just yet, Hochul says it's on the table if numbers start going up--but for now, she wants to "empower schools and parents to do the right thing first."

On the state's end, it'll be expanding its Vax To School campaign, with over 250 districts around the state saying they plan to host vaccination events.

The state will also be working with pediatricians to have the shot available in offices so that families can get it from the people and places that they feel the most comfortable.

"We're going to let the pediatrician offices handle this for now, but also it's not just them. We are working with the schools, I personally think the best place is in a school. The children are there, school nurses, or we send in people to provide the service, they're working with local pharmacies to get it done, so, that with permission slips that we are literally writing for the schools so they don't have to do any extra work," said Hochul.

The vaccines aren't available for children 5-11 just yet. The governor says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Advisory Committee will be meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday, with the hope of full guidance from them on Thursday--meaning by the end of next week, we could start seeing these vaccines given out.