ABINGTON, Pa. — Officials say it didn't take long for parents to sign up their children to receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine here at the Wright Center after the CDC gave the OK for the pediatric dose to be administered to kids ages 5 to 11.
Dr. Jignesh Sheth says there are about 28 million kids that fit into this age group, and the more kids who get vaccinated should lessen the number of cases in the area.
"So I think this is one of the group that is obviously at very high risk of getting infection because of the close proximity in schools as well as in sporting events, but also taking the infection home and infecting other family members," Dr. Sheth said.
Cara Kapacs brought her 8-year old daughter McKenzie to the Wright Center.
The third-grader is one of the first kids in our area to get the Covid vaccine.
Cara says she feels relieved knowing her daughter will be protected, especially in school.
"When school started back up, the numbers and watching the numbers rise really scared me majorly, so I wanted to make sure that she was fully protected," Cara said.
There was a lot of planning that had to be done to prepare for this dose of the vaccine because it's not the standard adult dose that the kids will be getting.
"It is not as giving a third of the dose of the previous vaccine itself. It's a brand new vial. It has a different protocol, different mixing protocol, different storage protocol," Dr. Sheth said. "So all those things have to be not only rolled out, but employees have to be trained, so they don't make a mistake."
Dr. Sheth says the needle to give the vaccine is also smaller, a sigh of relief for McKenzie.
Officials at the Wright Center say you can make your child's appointment for the first dose of the vaccine online or by calling the second dose comes three weeks later.
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