TALENT, Ore.- Thursday afternoon, the parking lot at Talent Elementary was filled with a long line of cars, but not for student pickup or drop off.
Rogue Valley-based La Clinica was operating a drive thru clinic at the school to get kids vaccinated for Covid-19. The non-profit just received a complete order of Pfizer’s pediatric Covid-19 vaccine. While public health agencies say their general advice is for you to call a provider and set up an appointment, La Clinica got a jump on the efforts.
“People have been calling for a couple of weeks now asking where they can get doses, so as soon as we got them, we started arranging this event,” said Rebecca Holmes, La Clinica’s nurse manager for school health clinics. “We’ve had a very steady traffic flow, and it continues to come.”
Parents were lined up long before the start of the event, eager to get some peace of mind for the safety of their kids.
“Every time she got a cold, we’d run out to get a covid test,” said one parent. “This helps give us more freedom, less fear of covid.”
“The rates of covid among 5 to 11 year-olds has been steadily increasing, so this vaccine has come at the perfect time,” Holmes said.
Despite the parents enthusiasm, some kids were apprehensive when the needles came out, some needing a little more coaxing, some hugs from their family while they get their shot. But others were very enthusiastic and expressed relief they could worry a little less about going out and getting sick.
Phoenix-Talent School District said they are getting a lot of questions about whether or not the covid vaccine will be required for school. It says there is a months-long process to add mandatory vaccination for school children. The district says they were told that process will be followed for this vaccine.
If you have questions about vaccine availability for your kids, contact your county public health office or your child’s pediatrician.
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