Parents, kids line up for COVID vaccines
Low-dose shots available to children ages 5 to 11
Nine-year-old Madison Mittelman had a better reason than most kids to get her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Friday afternoon.
She’s so vulnerable to respiratory infections that she has hardly left her house during the past 19 months.
Madison, a Buckeye resident, has a variant of cystic fibrosis, a disorder that affects the lungs. She’s relatively healthy but extremely vulnerable to upper respiratory viruses, which makes COVID-19 especially scary.
When other people get sick for three days, she gets sick for a month, the fourth grader explained, speaking through two masks as she sat on a chair inside John F. Long Elementary School in Maryvale, the site of a Maricopa County COVID-19 vaccine clinic for kids ages 5 to 11 years old.
Madison was one of the first kids in line.
“Once she’s fully vaccinated we plan to go out more and wear masks,” her father Michael Mittelman said. “She’s very social, so this has been kind of rough on her.”
A low-dose version of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 - 11 years of age was approved Tuesday by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, and endorsed by the Arizona Department of Health Services the following day.
Some individual providers in Arizona began offering the vaccine to younger kids as early as Wednesday. But public events like the one at John F. Long Elementary are just starting to ramp up. More are planned for the weekend.
Kids have been affected by COVID-19 in multiple ways, including mental health issues from remote learning, education disruptions from outbreaks in schools, and grief from
losing loved ones. They can also act as vectors of infection and spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or new coronavirus, that causes COVID-19 to others in their family and the community.
While children are less likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 than people in older age groups, a small number have been hospitalized and died.
In Arizona, 3,020 children and young adults under the age of 20 have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, including 902 during the past six months, state data shows. Forty-three children and young adults under the age of 20 have died in Arizona from COVID-19, the data says.
'We trust that this is going to help us get back to real life'
The clinic in Maryvale was the first vaccine event for younger kids that Madison's dad, could find listed on the county's website, and he could not get her there fast enough.
Madison attends school online, though she'd much prefer to be going in person, she said. Both of Madison's parents have been working from home throughout the pandemic. Her sister attends school online, too.
"When it (the vaccine) came out for us, we were first in line. When it came for my older daughter, we were first in line, and now with her. I have scientists in my family and we are just very trusting of the scientific community," said Michael Mittelman, who is a computer programmer.
"We know they wouldn't release a vaccine that was harmful so we trust that this is going to help us get back to real life."
At the Friday afternoon event, which began at 1 p.m., a steady stream of parents and children lined up outside. While most parents The Arizona Republic spoke with were 100% on board with the vaccine and eager to get it, others said they'd been initially hesitant but were motivated by Thanksgiving travel or the incentive of fewer school disruptions.
About 645,000 kids ages 5 to 11 live in Arizona
Maricopa County officials estimate 25% to 30% of parents in the county whose children ages 5 to 11 are now eligible to get vaccinated will be getting the COVID-19 vaccine for their children right away. About 645,000 kids ages 5 to 11 live in Arizona, and approximately 400,000 of them are in Maricopa County.
Samantha Murray and her 9-year-old daughter, Ellie Murray, were among the first in line at the Maryvale clinic. Ellie does not attend John F. Long Elementary. The fourth grader and her family live in Peoria but her mom took her out of school early on Friday to get the vaccine.
"We've been counting the days until we could get her vaccinated," Samantha Murray said. "We are just following the science, not the propaganda. It's not politics. It lessens her chance of getting sick."
Ellie said the vaccination hurt for "maybe five seconds," but that she was feeling fine. She was happy to get the shot because she doesn't want to make other people sick, she said.
Dawn Barela drove her two young sons, ages 6 and 7, from Gilbert to get the vaccine in Maryvale on Friday. She also brought her dad, who got a booster shot and a flu shot at the same time.
"Logistically trying to get two kids in at CVS or Walgreens is a nightmare so we just decided to come to one of these where we could get everybody done at one time," she said.
Barela, who is a nurse, said she's heard negative comments about the vaccine from friends. She blames the internet as the source of misinformation. For some people it's also a bit of obstinance, as they don't like being told what to do, she said.
"For me, it's a relief to know they will have the antibodies that can help them. There's always a little bit of fear that it's early, but I think the benefits outweigh the risks," she said.
"They've got birthdays coming up, we've got the holidays. They are our weakest link because they are unvaccinated and to me, let's just get that done so that this holiday season we can maybe have a little bit of relaxation."
'Traveling was a motivator for us'
Brad Huston, Jessica Palacios and their 7-year-old daughter, Isabella Huston, got their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at John F. Long Elementary School Friday afternoon. The couple had been previously hesitant but they were motivated to get it because they plan on traveling to Canada.
"The hesitation was that it's brand new. We weren't sure how much it was researched. It seemed rushed," she said. "Traveling was a motivator for us."
Another incentive was that Brad, who works in accounting, said his employer offered four days off or the cash equivalent to workers who get vaccinated.
The family lives so close to John F. Long Elementary School that it just seemed to make sense for all three to get vaccinated Friday, Palacios said.
Sonia Garcia, who works as an office manager at a charter school, brought her 10-year-old daughter, Nancy Garcia, to the Maryvale event. Nancy, a musician, attends the Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix.
"Because I work for a school I got it right away and my family, as it became available to them, got it as well," Sonia Garcia said. "I thought, 'why not?' She would be the last one and we like to travel. Because of us wanting to travel, we want to make sure that we are safe, as well as our friends and family."
Madison loves to sing, dance and do martial arts and would like to act in a school play. Right now, all her extracurricular activities are online. And most of her friends are in California. The family moved to Arizona at the beginning of the pandemic. She'd love to make some friends here, she said.
"We've been very, very, very careful," her father said. "We basically don't leave the house. We get everything delivered. We spray everything that comes in our house . ... Even when we go out for walks we have our masks with us and if anybody is around we put them on."
When asked about returning to inperson school, which she hopes to do during the next academic year, her eyes brightened and she bounced up and down with excitement.