By: Kristen Carosa
WMUR9
May 15, 2021
Read the Full article on WMUR9
ROCHESTER, N.H. —
Two large COVID-19 vaccination clinics were held Saturday in Strafford County for kids 12 to 15 years old.
The Stafford County Public Health Network held a vaccine clinic at Rochester Middle School and one in Durham and they say the response was much larger than they anticipated.Advertisement
Ashley Desrochers with the Strafford Public Health Network said more than 1,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were given to students.
“This is more of a response than we had for the 16-to-18-year olds,” Desrochers said.
All families with children in this age group were encouraged to come to make sure they could get the vaccine before summer starts.
“We were really trying to make sure that we could offer it before the end of the year but also not disrupt their testing time and all of the things that happen at the end of the year,” Desrochers said.
She said the vaccine is safe and effective and it’s important for kids in this age group to get it when they can.
“If you have those long hauler symptoms and that can affect kids ability to play sports, so there are a lot of things that can happen when you get sick with COVID-19,” Desrochers said.
She said getting the vaccine is just the first step back to normalcy and recommends all families take the time to talk with their kids about how the pandemic is impacting them.
“We really want to make sure that everyone knows the vaccine isn’t the only recovery part of this and there are other things that we are really anticipating getting worse, so we are here for that,” Desrochers said.
The public health network won’t be holding any other large clinics but they will arrange some smaller ones at food pantries and churches in the coming months.