‘A real sense of relief’: Illinois school-based vaccine clinics get shots in arms of kids ages 5 to 11
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When 11-year-old Andrew Punnoose arrived at Glenbrook Elementary School in Streamwood Friday morning, his day began with a jab in the arm that will allow him to gather around the Thanksgiving table with his cousins this month after more than a year and a half of COVID-19 disruptions.
“Thanksgiving is at our house this year, and all of his cousins, my nieces and nephews, are finally coming over, and they’re all vaccinated,” said Shinu Punnoose, Andrew’s mother.
The Unit School District 46 school-based clinic allowed Andrew to get his first dose of the new COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. While he will need a second dose in the coming weeks, his mother said she finally feels comfortable allowing him to reunite with relatives.
“I was calling everywhere to try to find the vaccine for my son, so I was super excited he was able to get the shot right at school,” the Hoffman Estates mother of three said.
“I asked him, ‘do you want me to be there?’ And he said, ‘no, mom, I’m fine,’ ” she said.
With the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, kids lined up for shots Friday at school-based vaccine clinics across Chicago and the suburbs.
After federal health officials recommended younger children be vaccinated, District 46 Superintendent Tony Sanders said officials decided to offer vaccine clinics at all 40 of the Elgin-based district’s elementary schools this month.
There is no state or federal mandate for students to get the vaccine, but Sanders said many parents and guardians interested in having their children get the shots have registered for first and second doses, and submitted a consent form to their student’s school nurse.
“We decided to offer these clinics at our elementary schools as a service to our busy families,” Sanders said. “They won’t need to worry about transportation or locating a trusted provider, and their children can be vaccinated in a place that is familiar and comfortable to them.”
While transforming school gymnasiums and libraries into makeshift vaccine clinics has become rare in recent decades, schools were popular sites to deliver polio, smallpox and measles vaccines to children during the 1940s through the 1960s, said Dr. Tina Tan, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a pediatrician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“In other countries, school-based vaccine clinics are very common, but they had kind of gone away in the U.S., and most children these days are vaccinated at their pediatrician’s office, which is their medical home,” Tan said.
With the approval of the vaccine for children 12 to 18 last spring, many high schools opened their doors on the weekends to offer COVID-19 shots, and this month, dozens of clinics were launched at Illinois elementary schools, including at Chicago Public Schools, which closed schools Friday for “Vaccination Awareness Day.”
“It’s a great idea to take a day to make sure families get the opportunity to get their kids vaccinated,” Tan said, adding that in previous generations, childhood vaccines had yet to be politicized.
“I think some people still don’t grasp how bad COVID is, and the only way to control the virus is to get vaccinated, especially as it’s starting to surge again,” Tan said.
Despite a general decline in COVID-19 cases, the rate of children sickened or dying from the virus this year is much worse than last winter, according to a weekly report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association.
More than 100,000 children were diagnosed as positive for the coronavirus each week for 13 weeks, and researchers are also seeing more hospitalizations and deaths of children, according to the AAP.
About half of U.S. children ages 12-17 are fully vaccinated — around 11.1 million children — according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While some parents are reluctant to have their children vaccinated, Arlington Heights resident Robert Mancilla said his 7-year-old son, Pablo, was the first student in line at a recent Community Consolidated School District 59 vaccine clinic.
The suburban district delivered 407 COVID-19 vaccine shots, with 328 pediatric doses given to children ages 5 to 11, and provided shuttle buses for low-income families who did not have transportation. Another event for those needing second doses is planned for Nov. 27.
“(Pablo) knew once he got the shot, he can have sleepover parties with his friends again, so he’s really excited,” said Mancilla, a District 59 school board member.
“I’ve heard concerns from some parents who are worried the vaccine would have side effects, and make their kids sick, but my son had none, and neither did any of the other families I’ve reached out to,” Mancilla said.
“It’s definitely been challenging the last three years, first with school closures, and then masks, which was a difficult decision, but it’s the right decision,” he said.
“The mood at the vaccine clinic was very celebratory, and I think for many parents, having the vaccine available for their younger children brings a real sense of relief,” Mancilla said.
At Glenbrook school, Emma Scholl, 10, was at the front of the line for the vaccine Friday morning.
“She is a champ at getting shots, so this was not big deal for her,” said Emma’s mom, Miriam Scholl.
With Scholl and her husband, and Emma’s older brother, Nathan, 12, already vaccinated, the family is looking forward to gathering with relatives during the holiday season.
“Emma is on a dance team, and has performances in December, and we’ll be at public venues, and with her vaccinated, we’ll all feel a lot more comfortable,” Miriam Scholl said.
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