Hundreds of students, the youngest of which just became eligible this week, were vaccinated Friday at the Spokane Public Schools Pfizer immunization clinic.
Ty Smith, a 12-year-old who visited the vaccine clinic at North Central High School with his mom, said he didn’t like the jab, but said it’s worth being able to go to the pool this summer, or be in class with his friends.
“Were you pretty happy to get vaccinated?”
“Yeah definitely.”
“Why?”
“Because I want everything to open up again, Plus I got a candy afterward.”
“What kind of candy?”
“A sucker, so it kind of makes up for the fact that they poked a needle in your arm.”
Ty’s mom, Ann Smith, said she has a flexible job, but having her two children home from school was hard. She said she also feels better about their safety, and the safety of other community members her children come into contact with.
“We just know this is the first step to normalcy, to get everything opened, and we were just so thrilled to have this opportunity that the school district partnered with CHAS, it was phenomenal, super easy.”
The Smiths were one of the families that filtered through the clinic Friday, one of the community’s first vaccine clinics open to children as young as 12 since their age group was authorized Wednesday.
Rebecca Doughty, the director of health services for Spokane Public Schools, said she wasn’t at all surprised by the rush of students, and parents making appointments to get vaccinated.
“I think parents are really excited. I know when my kids got vaccinated, it was really a relief to me, because they’re out at the high school, they’re at college, and it really was a relief to me.”
Doughty said the clinic is open to all eligible Spokane Public School students, children from other schools, even other counties. Parents, and community members if they aren’t vaccinated, are welcome as well.
“We want to be able to come back to school in the fall and have our kids have as normal of an experience as possible. And as the person in charge of contact tracing for the school district, I know that the only way that we’re going to be able to make that happen is to have as many people vaccinated as possible.”
Doughty said the school district is also committed to working with families that have barriers to making an appointment remotely, and they can register on site if they need too.
Vaccine appointments will be available at Spokane area high schools for the next couple of weeks. Appointments and locations are available at the district’s website.
Students, parents and community members can sign up for a vaccine appointment here.
Vaccine Appointments:
Lewis & Clark, 521 W. 4th Ave.
- Monday, May 17
- Tuesday, May 18
Ferris, 3020 E. 37th Ave.
- Wednesday, May 19
- Thursday, May 20
Shadle Park, 4327 N. Ash St.
- Monday, May 24
- Tuesday, May 25
Rogers, 1622 E. Wellesley Ave.
- Wednesday, May 26
- Thursday, May 27
