MIDDLEBURY — Bram Allen, 9, came prepared for his Covid-19 vaccine on Friday.
He didn’t want to see the needle coming, so he brought a sleep mask to cover his eyes, and headphones to listen to an audiobook. But in the end, he said it actually hurt less than the flu shot he had gotten a few weeks earlier.
He had to sit in the waiting area for 15 minutes of observation afterward, and he had a few more questions. Could they celebrate by going to the movie theater? He hadn’t been since the start of the pandemic. His parents suggested they wait a little longer, just to be safe.
“Our whole household is vaccinated now, which is a big relief,” said his mom, Tricia Allen.
“Not our bunnies or our tortoise though,” Bram interjected. “Do you think they will get vaccinated?”
“I don’t think they need to,” Tricia Allen replied. “They aren’t going around and hanging out with other bunnies.”
Bram was one of 80 children ages 5 to 11 scheduled to be vaccinated at a state-run clinic in Middlebury Friday, the first day the site offered doses to kids in that age group after registration opened on Wednesday. Inside, traffic moved in a circular pattern: check-in at the door, then into a curtained-off area, then back to the main room to wait 15 minutes in rows of folding chairs. Soft rock and ABBA wafted from an old boom box in the back of the room.
Outside, parents took photos of their kids, smiling and holding up their vaccine cards.
“It feels amazing,” said Emily Bissonnette, right after her 7-year-old daughter got vaccinated. “I’m tearing up a little bit.”
Families had driven in from as far as Burlington and Norwich — the latter a 90-minute drive — to get their kids vaccinated, clinic staff said.
“The parents are emotional, because they’re so excited their kids can finally get vaccinated,” said Mary Miller, clinical coordinator at the site.
Several parents — including Jonathan Slason, who was there with his 6-year-old son, Zekiel — said their kids’ vaccinations made them more comfortable to make holiday plans with family.
Last year was “a pretty quiet Thanksgiving,” Slason said.
“We are planning to do a family Thanksgiving, and at that point, they will be three weeks out from their vaccines,” Tricia Allen said, after her sons got vaccinated. “The second one will be the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which means by Christmas, they’ll be fully vaccinated, which is really big.”
Matt and Ashley Laux said they got to the state’s registration website half an hour before appointments opened Wednesday morning, refreshing repeatedly, because they were excited to get appointments for their kids.
“It feels like a big weight off my mind,” now that their children are vaccinated, Ashley Laux said.
Laux’s 5-year-old daughter Audrey said her arm felt a little sore, but the whole thing hurt less than her flu shot. She got a circus bandage with a lion on it.
“I think there might be, tonight, a little extra from the Halloween candy,” Ashley Laux said.
VTDigger is hosting a virtual event with medical expert Dr. Judy Orton to answer reader questions about the vaccine and its rollout for Vermont’s youngest age group yet. Learn more here.
Appointments for school-based and state-run clinics can be made at healthvermont.gov/KidsVaccine or by calling 855-722-7878. Many health care providers and some pharmacies are also offering the vaccine.
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