HARLINGEN — Marc Anthony De Leon was anxious and appreciative about getting the pediatric Pfizer vaccine Friday morning.
“I’ve seen stuff, videos that they put the needle in but it doesn’t come out,” said Marc, 11, a fifth grader at Dishman Elementary School.
The Harlingen City Health Department held another vaccination clinic Friday at the Lon C. Hill Building, 502 E. Tyler, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There was the usual administering of Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer vaccines to those who still needed immunizations, plus booster shots. But this was the city’s first rollout of the Pfizer shot for children ages 5 to 11.
“It’s very important to get them vaccinated,” said Josh Ramirez, city health director.
“We want to make sure that they don’t take the virus home,” he said. “Just last week we lost a child in Harlingen to COVID. That’ rare, but we know that COVID and COVID mutations have affected kids, that’s what we are trying to prevent.”
This new initiative is in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention giving it’s approval Nov. 2 for Pfizer vaccines to be administered to children in that age group. Only three days later the city opened its doors to the youngsters, and parents wasted no time getting them there.
“Some kids came in early this morning,” Ramirez said around 10 a.m.
“We had one before 7:30 that was already here,” he said. “They were very excited. None of them cried, none of them ran away from us. The moms were happy as well that the kids got vaccinated.”
A slow but steady stream of people of all ages came through the clinic Friday.
“You have your cards with you?” asked Christopher Haggstrom, city health inspector, to an older couple which had entered through a side door.
Like many older clients, they’d come to receive their booster shots and had their cards to show they’d already received the first two shots. Haggstrom invited them to sit down and they filled out long yellow forms before entering another room where Harlingen firefighters administered the shots.
A man wearing a work badge and moving with direct purpose rolled up his sleeve to receive his shot and quickly returned to the lobby.
“I received my COVID Pfizer booster shot,” said the man whose name was Ron Mustard, 65.
“I feel very good, it was very relaxing,” he said.
Mustard, finance director at Valley International Airport, doesn’t have any underlying health conditions that put him at greater risk for COVID complications, but …
“I just believe in the booster,” he said. “I wish everybody would get it.”
Miriam Gonzalez brought her 10-year-old son Hernan Figueroa all the way from Monterrey, Mexico, where the vaccine still isn’t available to the younger population.
“It’s to protect my family,” Gonzalez said. “My husband got it in Monterrey but the rest came up here. I have both doses.”
She and her son had actually come to the Valley to visit relatives, but when she heard about the vaccine clinic, she came right over to get Hernan vaccinated.
“Now that there’s an opportunity for him, I want to make sure he’s protected from the virus,” she said. “He’s the only one in my family who isn’t vaccinated.”
How did Hernan feel about getting the shot?
“Bad,” he said in Spanish, fidgeting in his chair with a stuffed animal.
“He’s nervous about the pain,” his mother said. And then, “My family has been very proactive about protecting ourselves from the COVID. We have not been exposed as much, and nobody has been sick with COVID.”
UT Health RGV also began offering the pediatric Pfizer vaccine on Friday. For more information or to make an appointment, log onto uthealth.org/vaccine or call 1-833-UTRGVMD.
Ramirez said the city is having conversations with the school districts to arrange for the vaccinations of young children. Brianna Vela, public information officer for the Harlingen school district, said no plans had been made as of Friday.
She referred to previous vaccination clinics on school grounds for students and staff in which the district partnered with Su Clinica. She surmised that any vaccination event for younger children on campus would again involve partnering with an outside agency as well as utilizing campus nurses.
RELATED READING:
Won’t hurt a bit: Parents flock to DHR clinic as kids become eligible for COVID vaccine
