Major U.S. school districts plan to serve as vaccination sites, with some offering $100 and sporting-event tickets as rewards for getting shots

       Major U.S. cities are taking the Covid-19 vaccination effort to schools, offering children everything from money to amusement-park tickets to encourage them get the shots.

       With school districts from Austin, Texas, to Santa Clara, Calif., saying they were set to serve as locations for administering vaccines among students ages 5 and older Thursday, officials around the country are making new pitches urging families to participate.

       Starting Monday, younger kids can get vaccinated at public schools in New York City, which is offering incentives such as $100 debit cards, trips to the Statue of Liberty and tickets to sporting events. Chicago school officials plan to offer $100 rewards to children who are getting their first shots but declined to say when the vaccinations for younger children would begin at schools.

       Superintendents have mostly welcomed the chance for medical partners to distribute shots at schools as a way of improving campus safety during the pandemic, said Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

       “For any amount of elementary-aged kids to get vaccinated will be a step in the right direction, because it’ll be just an increase in the mitigating factors that we know are successful in preventing the spread," Mr. Domenech said.

       As more and younger children begin to receive the shots, districts could start relaxing mandates for masks and social distancing, he said. Miami last week said it would ease masking rules for older students after infection rates fell in Miami-Dade County.

       Mr. Domenech said he expects districts to begin discussing whether to mandate vaccines in the coming weeks. A few districts and the state of California had already introduced mandates for vaccine-eligible students after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May recommended that 12-to-15-year-olds receive Covid-19 vaccines. Some families in California have protested the mandate.

       Children between the ages of 5 and 11 began receiving Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s vaccine at hospitals, pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices on Wednesday, a day after the CDC recommended the shots for that age group. The Food and Drug Administration last week authorized a two-dose regimen of the vaccine, in a reduced dosage from that used on adults.

       There are 28 million 5-to-11-years-olds in the U.S. who are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. Roughly 68% of people in the U.S. ages 12 and over are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the CDC.

       School officials in New York, Florida, California, Illinois, Texas and Georgia said campuses would serve as important facilities for distributing vaccines, with hundreds of sites and thousands of doses at the ready for school-based locations operated by local and state health authorities.

       Scores of districts across the country opened school-based vaccination sites in May after the shots became available for children 12 and up. States and local districts have required parental consent for children to get vaccinated. Teachers unions have supported the distribution of shots at schools.

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       California said it already has 3,100 school-located clinics for vaccines, with another 800 set to distribute the vaccine in November and December. The state’s largest district, in Los Angeles, said mobile vaccination teams will offer the shots to students, aged 5 to 11, starting Monday. Thirteen school-based clinics will offer the vaccine to kids starting a week later, district officials said.

       Hannah Gehl, a health services specialist who has been coordinating vaccination clinics for Austin schools, said the parents with whom she speaks remain divided on the shots. “Questions are either of two categories: ‘How soon can I get it?’ or ‘Is it mandatory?’ " she said.

       Austin resident Tammy Russell got her 12-year-old son vaccinated at a school-based site this week. Ms. Russell, too eager to wait for the school-based vaccinations to begin for younger kids, booked appointments for her three daughters as soon as they became available. She secured appointments for Gracie, 8, Miracle, 9, and Spirit, 10, to get their shots at a Walgreens next week.

       “There were some mama texts going around on where to get those" vaccinations for children under 12, said Ms. Russell, a speech pathologist.

       Another Austin parent said she would wait to have her young son vaccinated, just as she had waited out of concern about unforeseen side effects. She was receiving her first Covid-19 shot Wednesday at the school clinic.

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