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Vaccine clinics at Houston schools
Vaccine providers are partnering with schools to host mobile vaccine clinics. Houston city leaders and educators are feeling encouraged by the momentum. They are hopeful this will mean the next school year will be better and safer.
HOUSTON - Local COVID-19 vaccine providers are noting an uptick in demand.
They attribute it to interest in getting 12-to-15-year-olds vaccinated since the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for that age group on Monday.
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Vaccine providers are partnering with schools to host mobile vaccine clinics. Houston city leaders and educators are feeling encouraged by the momentum. They are hopeful this will mean the next school year will be better and safer.
"We want our kids back in school. We don't want to lose a generation of students. We want our students to feel safe, our teachers, the janitors, the bus drivers," said Mayor Sylvester Turner.
"We want our kids back in the fall, 100 percent and to do that we know we need them to be vaccinated," said Erika Carter, Principal, Key Middle School.
Key Middle School was one of two schools' mobile vaccine sites organized by HISD and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on Saturday. The other was at Heights High School.
"We are here because COVID-19 has now become a vaccine-preventable disease," Jackson Lee said. "So, let me tell you why you should not ignore getting your 12-year-old vaccinated. COVID-19 is now one of the top causes of death among adolescents 12 to 17."
Memorial Hermann partnered with HISD to host one at Sharpstown High School.
"Actually exceeding our [turnout] expectations for the day," said Cole Kaleta, Associate Vice President of Operations at Memorial Hermann Health System. "We are targeting somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 vaccines administered today."
In the first two days of rolling out the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds, the Texas Department of State Health Services reports nearly 18,000 doses were administered to that age group.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo posted on Twitter more than 35 percent of all first doses given at the NRG vaccination site on Thursday were to 12-to-15-year-olds.
For a list of Pfizer vaccine providers in the Houston area, click here.
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