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Seattle’s youngest students line up for COVID vaccines at school

By Monica Velez, The Seattle Times
Published: November 9, 2021, 7:56am

SEATTLE — About 560 of Seattle Public Schools’ youngest students are one step closer to being fully vaccinated.

On Monday, hundreds of students lined up for their first kid-sized dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which was approved for children ages 5 through 11 last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parents at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School documented their children’s first vaccine dose with cellphone cameras. Families clapped and cheered each other on as siblings went one by one to receive the first dose.

Most students were eager to get their vaccines, but others had a difficult time. Students were encouraging and comforting each other.

Seven-year-old twin sister and brother Maya and Cole Griesemer, who received the vaccine at Bailey Gatzert, said it only hurt a little bit.

“It would only hurt for one second and then it’s over,” Maya said. She said she’s ready for her next dose and feels good she received the first one.

Nine-year-old Nora Ignacio said when she found out she was eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine she started “dancing around the house.” She received the vaccine at Bailey Gatzert and said at first she was nervous.

“Some shots hurt, some shots don’t hurt,” the fifth-grader said. “I didn’t know how much it would hurt. It kind of froze my arm for a second but it feels better now.”

Nora’s father, David Ignacio, said he feels “hopeful” and is “looking forward to the future” now that vaccines are available for younger children.

“If we didn’t go to a school that had the vaccine, who knows how long we would have to wait,” he added.

Four Seattle elementary schools administered vaccines Monday. Bailey Gatzert and Leschi Elementary School each had about 100 doses, said Audrey Querns, a project manager for the office of strategy, deployment and responsiveness at Seattle Public Schools.

The two other schools that had vaccine clinics Monday — Catharine Blaine K-8 and Arbor Heights Elementary School — had about 180 doses each because they have larger student populations, about 500 enrolled at each school, Querns said.

None of the four schools had any vaccine doses to spare, Querns said, and some families at Leschi even came to Bailey Gatzert for a dose because of the high demand.

Other school districts in King County have also run out of vaccine doses quickly. The Lake Washington School District and Bellevue School District also had vaccine clinics at their school buildings over the weekend, and appointments were all filled.

Seattle Schools plans to hold vaccine clinics at 40 schools for students who are enrolled at those schools. There will also be 14 regional clinics at Seattle school buildings on the weekends and in the evenings for any student enrolled in the district.

It’s unclear how enrollment numbers at Seattle schools will be affected by the availability of pediatric vaccine doses. The district isn’t expecting a huge influx of students to re-enroll but are prepared for any student who wants to return to in-person school, said spokesperson Tim Robinson.

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