The Paterson School District is making a major push to get eligible students vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the new school year.

Superintendent Eileen Shafer also announced that students and staff will be required to wear masks when school starts in September.

“We are mandating masks here in Paterson schools so that everyone will wear a mask,” she said.

Shafer says at least 60% of teachers and staff are fully vaccinated against the virus. She says that she now wants the students to be protected. Starting on Aug. 16, parents can request door-to-door vaccine service.

“We are going to have three vans going and picking up parents and their students,” Shafer said. “We will be at your front door and pick you up and bring you to one of two locations.”

One of those locations will be St. Joseph’s Medical Center. Officials say that offering free rides is one way to get parents on board with the vaccine. The other is by offering an incentive.

The district says that they know of only 100 students who have been vaccinated so far. To increase that number, the district is also offering $10 vouchers to McDonald’s for those who get the shot. The district’s slogan is, “You’ll get some fries when immunized.”

About 77% of the Paterson population has been vaccinated. Mayor Andre Sayegh says that he expects it to be 80% by the end of the week. He says that getting kids on board will help.

“We have to put this pandemic behind us. School starts in a month, and we want to make sure schools safely reopen,” he said.

The district will have to convince approximately 13,000 students from ages 12-18 to get the shot. Children under 12 are not yet eligible. Officials say that the goal is to get the kids in school and make sure they stay in school.

Paterson is averaging 12 new cases of COVID-19 per week. Officials at St. Joseph’s Medical Center say that cases have increased about 50% over the last several weeks.