Soon after children 12 and up were cleared for the COVID-19 vaccine, Juneau officials opened clinics at four schools.
More than 600 people got their shot at the youth clinics earlier this month. But not all of them were kids. While most were 12 to 15-year-olds, some parents and other students who hadn’t yet been vaccinated also chose to get their shots.
Last month, the city stopped offering mass vaccine clinics, due to a decrease in demand and focused its attention on pop-up clinics. Robert Barr, Juneau’s Emergency Operations Chief, said those smaller events are still getting a lot of traction and the youth clinics met expectations.
“It was about on target with what we had seen proportionately within the adult population when the vaccine was first made available to that age group,” Barr said.
Barr said it’s important to recognize how serious COVID-19 can be, even for children.
“We’ve seen a number of cases, even cases here locally of kids having significant, sort of longer-term effects that impact their cardiovascular systems and ability to participate fully in sports and athletics,” Barr said.
Carmen Farr, 15, got her vaccine at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé where she’ll attend 10th grade next year. She and her 12-year-old sister were excited to be vaccinated after not seeing high-risk relatives for a long time.
“That was hard on my parents, especially,” Carmen said. “They weren’t able to see their own parents for such a long time. Last month, we went on a vacation to see my grandparents because they were all vaccinated, but it was the first time we had seen them in like over a year.”
Carmen missed out on her eighth grade graduation in 2020 and getting a summer job. Now, she’s looking forward to hanging out with her friends and maybe working, as businesses are starting to open up again.
Eleanor Carpenter, 12, will start eighth grade at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School this fall. When a clinic came to her school gym, she said she was more than ready to get a vaccine despite her fear of needles.
“I was following it very carefully on the news and stuff because I was really hoping to get [the vaccine],” Eleanor said. “Everybody in my family has got it, who was old enough to do so, of course. So when I heard it was announced I was like ‘I need an appointment right now!’ So we got one.”
Her 6-year-old brother missed out on his first year of going to kindergarten and Eleanor switched to a home school program.
“I was like ‘I wanna do homeschool’ and now I know that I really don’t wanna do homeschool,” Eleanor said.
After a year of canceled plans due to COVID-19, she said she just wants to do her part.
“You know, I want, not things to go back to normal because I think we should learn from this, but I want it to go back to where we can hang out and stuff and have birthday parties and holidays,” Eleanor said.
Garrett McGuan is also a Dzantik’i Heeni student, but he just hit the mark after turning 12 earlier this month. He was vaccinated alongside all his friends who were old enough to get a shot.
“I wanted to get a vaccine because then I could hang around with my friends without masks and go into their houses and hang out,” Garrett said.
So what do these kids have to say to those still worried about getting vaccinated?
Carmen: “It’s important to get vaccinated to protect other people.”
Eleanor: “I had a lot less fear than I would’ve because both of my grandmothers told me their smallpox and polio stories of how they got vaccinated for those, and those sounded a lot scarier.”
Garrett: “Get your shot!”
Carmen, Eleanor and Garrett will get their second dose at clinics scheduled for early June. Eligible kids who haven’t had their first shots are welcome to do so at those clinics as well.
