SCRANTON, Pa. — The cafeteria inside Scranton High School was abuzz with kids, all here to get their COVID shot.
The staff of Hometown Health Care of NEPA, with some help from Penn State Scranton Nursing students, hosted a vaccination clinic that administered about 400 shots of the Pfizer vaccine approved in a pediatric dose for kids ages 5 to 11 earlier this week.
"We partner closely with the Scranton School District. We have had several clinics here at the Scranton school district not only for COVID vaccine but other vaccines as well. And we were ready to roll as soon as we got that approval. We had clinics lined up," said Allyson Favuzza of Hometown Health Care of NEPA.
Favuzza says she's seen a spike in Coronavirus cases from kids in this age group, mostly because they're back in school: a place where germs can spread quickly with so many kids in one room. That has also been a big concern for parents.
"With all the kids in school, we need to kick this out like this should be done and over with. So I think all of the parents should be the one on the same thing," said Marlene Viana.
Parents say it's not just important to get their kids vaccinated to go back to school; they're also thinking about the holidays coming up and family gatherings.
"We're going to see our family in a couple weeks. We haven't seen them in like two and a half years. So just to have that. I wanted the shot in him for that, so it worked out perfect," said Jennifer Nicastro.
Nicastro brought her son, Enzo, to the vaccine clinic for his first shot. She says they just came off of quarantine, and it was Enzo who insisted he get vaccinated now that it was available for kids.
"I wanted to get it, so the coronavirus, if I get it, it wasn't gonna be that bad," said Enzo Nicastro.
"If I'm around someone that gets COVID and I'm not symptomatic. Then I don't have to quarantine," said Lia Dennebaum.
Hometown Health Care of NEPA will be hosting several more vaccination clinics in the Lackawanna County area. You can schedule an appointment for any of the clinics on its website.
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