Only half of New York City residents have received a COVID-19 booster shot even as nearly two-thirds reported catching the virus since the outbreak first arrived in the Big Apple in 2020, a new health survey released Tuesday reveals. The rate of full vaccine and booster coverage across the five boroughs ranged from a high of 60% in Manhattan to a low of 34% in the Bronx, according to the poll of 2,500 adults conducted by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health by Emerson College.
The survey found that 86% of residents received at least one COVID jab and 60% of parents had their kids vaccinated. There was a big disparity by borough in the number of New Yorkers who were sick with COVID-19 who received approved medical treatments — ranging from 30% in Manhattan to only 6% in Staten Island and 12% in The Bronx.
There’s another troubling new finding: 22% of people said they or a family member had suffered from “long COVID,” lingering illnesses or symptoms lasting weeks or months after recovery. “Sixty-three percent reporting having COVID-19 is a big number,” said Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of CUNY’s School of Public Health and co-leader of the Pandemic Response Institute.