Cuomo Wants College Students Vaccinated While Still In School

Governor Andrew Cuomo says the state will be giving COVID-19 vaccines directly to colleges and universities around New York so they can vaccinate their students before they leave for summer break.

Cuomo made the announcement today at Suffolk Community College.

The governor says SUNY schools will take the lead.

The initial allocation will include 21,000 vaccines to be administered to SUNY students and 14,000 vaccines to be administered at private colleges.

"We're now focusing on students, and we want to get students vaccinated before the end of the school year. The 18 to 24 population is growing in positivity, and many of them are in colleges and universities. It makes all the sense in the world to use the schools as the base for the vaccine. The State University of New York system will take the lead in being a model for vaccinating students on college campuses," Cuomo said. "The State of New York is announcing that we will be giving direct allocations to colleges and universities so they can vaccinate their students in their facilities and help us stamp out the COVID beast.

Cuomo also announced that there’s an increased testing-positivity rate for people ages 18 to 24.

He says the rate has risen from 9.9 percent to around 14 percent.