New York has now started administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12-to-15-year olds.

The federal Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the vaccine on Monday and the New York-based vaccine review panel approved the rollout on Wednesday night.

But will the vaccine now be required for school-age students returning in the fall?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said probably not, since right now it still only has emergency use authorization.

“A state cannot mandate a vaccine that is authorized by emergency use. It has to receive a full federal approval first,” Cuomo said during a press conference. “We discussed that today with the White House. That could take months. The decision point would be if you had the vaccine and children were going back to school, would you mandate the vaccine? I don't know that there's going to be a federal approval in time for that. If there was a federal approval, it is going to be a legitimate topic of discussion, I can tell you that.”

But schools right now are not really expressing an interest in mandating the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Bob Lowry with the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

“How would we accommodate the families that choose not to comply with a vaccine mandate?” Lowry questioned. “None of our members have asked for a vaccine mandate.”

Parents are also not immediately jumping to get their children vaccinated. In fact, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey conducted late last month, only 30 percent of parents said they are willing to vaccinate their 12-to-15-year-olds against COVID-19.  

Kyle Belokopitsky, with the NYS PTA, said this decision should ultimately be left up to parents.

“I do not anticipate the vaccine being mandatory for children anytime in the near future,” Belokopitsky said. “So I think that this is an important thing that's happening for those families, those who choose to vaccinate their child, I think that's fantastic. For families that choose not to vaccinate their child, that's fantastic too. No parent is wrong in this decision.”

Schools also have a busy next few months. School budget votes are coming up on Tuesday, along with school board elections.

Schools also are receiving about $12 billion in education funding from the federal government and must post how they plan to spend that money by July 1.