Bayside Kids Have Among City's Highest Vaccination Rates: Data

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — The vast majority of public school students Bayside have been vaccinated against COVID-19 at a rate that exceeds the citywide average, recently-released Department of Education data shows.

Across the neighborhood's 10 public schools 70.5 percent of students have gotten at least one vaccine dose, amounting to 7,735 students in total, according to DOE data showing the vaccination rate among eligible students at each of the city's nearly 1,500 schools.

That's much higher than the citywide average of 59.3 percent (and on par with some of the other highest-vaccinated neighborhoods), according to the data, which was released Friday and reflects vaccination rates as of Feb. 22.

The neighborhood's vaccination numbers, however, lag slightly behind the vaccination rate in Queens' District 26, which encompasses Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, and Fresh Meadows: about 74 percent of students in the district have gotten at least one vaccine dose, according to Chalkbeat.

While public school students in Bayside have mostly been vaccinated against COVID-19, rates at local schools still range from over 80 percent to under one-half vaccinated.

The most-vaccinated school in the area is Bayside High School where 84.6 percent of the 2,805 students have gotten at least one vaccine dose, according to the city.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, P.S. 390Q , also known as The CIVIC School of Bayside Hills, is the neighborhood's least vaccinated school: only 46 percent of eligible kids at the Pre-K-through-1st-grade school have gotten a vaccine dose — or 23 out of 50 students over the age of five, data shows.

"New York City led the way ensuring every adult in our buildings is vaccinated, mandating vaccinations for students participating in high-risk activities, and hosting clinics in schools where over 50,000 students received life-saving vaccines," DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said when the data was released on Friday.

"In the coming months, we are working with our partner health care agencies on an outreach campaign to encourage vaccination in the communities with the lowest rates."

Officials also announced Friday that New York City public school students could go mask-free outdoors starting this week.

See a breakdown of the vaccination rate data at Bayside's public schools here: