Los Fresnos mom Karina Bruno knew that as soon as COVID-19 vaccines would be made available to children that she wanted to get her 11-year-old daughter Krystal vaccinated.
When she was told that the UT Health Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine was going to be administering the vaccinations to children between the ages of 5 and 11 on Friday, she took her daughter to the university’s campus.
“I knew right away,” Karina Bruno said. “When they started saying kids were going to be able to get vaccinated it’s just a way of having her a little bit more safe than not having the vaccine at all. I recommend that everyone get vaccinated so we can get back to normal.”
Krystal, a student at Lopez-Riggens Elementary School in Los Fresnos, said it felt good to get vaccinated but that she was nervous. She thought the vaccination was going to hurt but it didn’t, she said.
She is the first of her friends to get the vaccine, she said, explaining that she planned to tell her friends to “come and get the vaccine. I wanted to get the vaccine to be protected.”
The UT Health Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine on Friday made available the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of 5 and 11 to any parents who wanted their children to be vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday approved the vaccine for elementary school children.
Children who get the first dose will need a second dose of the vaccine three weeks after their first shot.
Michelle Costley, a nurse practitioner, administered the shot to Krystal and talked to her to help alleviate the nervousness that the young girl might be experiencing.
“You are doing good,” Costley told her as soon as she was just about to finish administering the vaccination.
Costley said the majority of the children who showed up earlier in the day handled getting the vaccine well.
“They have been very brave,” Costley said. “There was one little girl that cried a little bit but most are very brave. They are doing very well.”
Dr. Cristel Escalona, a pediatrician and chief of pediatrics for the UTRGV School of Medicine, said she is extremely excited and happy that these youngsters are finally getting the chance to get the vaccine.
“We all know and understand if we get this population vaccinated, we have a real chance of bringing down the numbers and bringing down the amount of damage that COVID-19 does to our communities,” Escalona said in a media release.
Cameron County Public Health will hold a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to 11 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, at the Mary Lucio Clinic, located at 1204 Jose Colunga Jr. St. in Brownsville. Parents and guardians will have to fill out and sign a consent form that will be provided on site.
On Wednesday, the Brownsville Independent School District will also hold a clinic for children ages 5 to 11. The clinic will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Brownsville Event Center at 1 Event Blvd.
