Forest Hills Kids Have Higher-Than-Average Vaccination Rate: Data

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Nearly two-thirds of public school students in Forest Hills have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a rate that exceeds the citywide average, recently-released Department of Education data shows.

In the neighborhood's 11 public schools about 64 percent of students have gotten at least one vaccine dose, amounting to 7,857 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 slightly higher than the citywide average of 59.3 percent, according to the data, which was released Friday and reflects vaccination rates as of Feb. 22.

Forest Hills' vaccination numbers also surpass the vaccination rate in its public school district overall — about 58 percent of students in Queens's District 28, which extends south from Forest Hills and Rego Park through Jamaica, have gotten at least one vaccine dose, data shows.

While public school students in Forest Hills have mostly been vaccinated against COVID-19, rates at local schools still range from over 80 percent to only one-third vaccinated.

The most-vaccinated Forest Hills school is the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, a middle and high school where 81 percent of the 830 students have gotten at least one vaccine dose, according to the city.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, P.S. 175 on 102nd Street and 65th Avenue is Forest Hill's least-vaccinated school: only 34 percent of kids at this Pre-K-through-5 school have gotten a vaccine dose, the 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.

Patch editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.