Bed-Stuy District Has 2nd Lowest School Vaccination Rate In NYC

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Less than half of students in one of Bed-Stuy's school districts have gotten vaccinated against the coronavirus, one of the lowest rates in the city, according to new data released by the Department of Education.

Only 43 percent of students in District 16 — which stretches over the eastern portion of the neighborhood — had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine as of Friday, the data shows.

The vaccine rate, first reported on by Chalkbeat, was second-lowest out of the city's school districts, falling only slightly above Brownsville's District 23, where 38 percent of students have gotten their first dose. Flatbush's District 18 also had a 43-percent vaccination rate, according to the data.

Bed-Stuy's second school district, District 13, fared slightly better with a 52.8 percent vaccination rate. The rate for District 13 — which also extends over Fort Green, Clinton Hill and parts of Brooklyn Heights — was still lower than the 59 percent citywide vaccine rate for public school students.

The lower rates compare to districts in Manhattan with the highest vaccine rates, including the Upper East Side's District 2, where 80 percent of students had gotten their first shot, according to the data.

Education officials have promised to work on increasing vaccination in those districts with low rates.

"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," education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said in a statement to THE CITY.

The new data, released under City Council requirements, comes as New York City officials consider lifting the mask mandate in schools. Mayor Eric Adams has said he will make the decision by March 4.

Students will be allowed to go mask-free outdoors only starting next week.

Parts of Brooklyn have consistently had some of the lowest vaccine rates in the city. As of Wednesday, the rate of residents of all ages who had gotten at least one dose in the neighborhood's ZIP codes ranged from 65 percent in 11205, which includes Clinton Hill, and 83 percent in the 11216 ZIP code, which also covers parts of Crown Heights, data shows.

On a school level, nearly 250 of the city's schools have fewer than a third of its students receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. The data did not include charter schools.