1st doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered to kids under 12 in N.L.

Joanna Gillen Mahoney and her husband Marc wasted no time booking a COVID-19 vaccination appointment for their two children who are under 12.

The St. John's family showed up to the clinic at Mundy Pond Road on the first day Newfoundland and Labrador started giving out COVID-19 vaccines to children including Ellie and Thomas Mahoney.

"I hate needles but it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would," said Ellie, the family's eldest child.

"It felt the same as the flu shot," Thomas said, rubbing his arm. "I got scared at first but I felt better after I got itand now I am fine."

Gillen Mahoney said it was the right thing forher family.

"We feel like we want to be as safe as we possibly can and we think that herd immunity is important and we want to get back to regular activities as soon as possible."

The province has ahigh vaccination rate, said Marc Mahoney, but schools seemed like an obvious weak spot that can now be eliminated.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province's chief medical officer of health,spentpart of her day administering shots to children under 12.

"I hope [this] will be the last hurdle we will have to get through to really protect the population against COVID," she said.

"We have really been looking forward to being able to vaccinate this group, to help kids get their lives back to normal, schools back to normal."

Fitzgerald said she is optimistic about the turnout. On the first day bookings were available, she said, about 15per cent of the eligible population made an appointment and Eastern Health has filled almost all of itsappointments so far.

She said Public Health hopesto achieve a 90 per cent vaccination rate in children, but it will take time, as there will be eight weeks between doses for kids.

To book an appointment online, parents can use the online vaccine appointment portalor call theregional health authority.

Details of the vaccination process in schools are still being worked out. It's up to each regional health authority to plan which schools will offer vaccines,and health authorities are expected have that information on their respective websites in the coming days.

• Your questions answered about kids and N.L.'s COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Health Minister John Haggiehas suggested it could be larger schools or schools in smaller, rural communities that are selected as vaccine clinics.

Parents will need to sign a consent form if they choose the school vaccination option, and they'll also get a letter from the school to notify them of possible dates.

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