'This will make me more safe.' Kids 12 and up start getting Pfizer vaccine

According to the FDA and the CDC the data from Pfizer's trials showed the vaccine to be 100% effective in adolescents.

News 12 Staff

May 13, 2021, 10:01 AM

Updated 1,241 days ago

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Kids as young as 12 in the Hudson Valley are now rolling up their sleeves to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Parents and their kids began lining up outside the mass vaccination site at the Westchester County Center in White Plains first thing this morning.
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A steady stream has come through since the doors opened at 7:45 a.m. "We're so excited, we've been looking forward to this day, I've been checking the news stories," says parent Elisabeth Alderman, of Pleasantville.
Kids who spoke with News 12 say they're all for getting the shot if it means getting back to normal living. "I'm so excited, I've just been waiting for so long for this moment. I can finally get back to doing stuff," says 12-year-old Gillian Grabowski. "I feel like this will make me more safe," adds Gillian's 14-year-old sister.
"I have not seen my friends in a while. I'm always calling them on the phone or playing games online. It will be nice if I could finally see them again," says 12-year-old Ethan Alderman. 
To find sites that carry the Pfizer vaccine, click here.     
Parents say it's been a bit of a juggling act since the adults in the house have been the only ones vaccinated up to this point, and this will make daily living a bit easier. "Both my wife and I have underlying health problems, and we're going to feel safer that Ethan is vaccinated," says parent Phil Alderman, of Pleasantville. "I've been very hesitant because I really wasn't sure how much I was exposing them, so we can finally get back to living a little bit more once we get these shots in them," says Laura Grabowski, of Yorktown.
According to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the data from Pfizer's trials showed the vaccine to be 100% effective in adolescents and the side effects were the same as seen in adults, such as pain at the injection site, feeling tired, headaches and fever.
It's important to note that only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for adolescents at this point, so you have to make sure you go where the Pfizer vaccine is offered.
There are many places people can go to get their child vaccinated. People can also just walk in with no appointment necessary at any state-run vaccination site such as the Westchester County Center.
To find sites that carry the Pfizer vaccine, click here.
Dr. Rafael Torres, with White Plains Hospital, says the tricky thing is even if the newly eligible children want to get vaccinated, their parents must approve.
"I think the real struggle is going to be those parents who have vaccine hesitancy to begin with, and I think education from the Department of Health and the CDC around how safe the tens of millions of doses that have already been given out have been...should encourage them to vaccinate themselves and get their children vaccinated," says Torres.