LEXINGTON, Ky. — The staff at UK Healthcare is excited to get younger kids in for their COVID-19 vaccines. 

What You Need To Know

  • The FDA and CDC have signed off on an emergency authorization for Pfizer’s version of the COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11

  • Hospital systems in Kentucky are preparing to vaccinate thousands of newly-eligible kids

  • UK Healthcare is organizing a vaccine drive in Lexington

  • Getting vaccinated now means kids will get the full protection of the shots by Christmas

 

“Kids that have been waiting; parents that have been waiting for an opportunity to protect their children beyond just masks; this is their opportunity,” Kentucky Children’s Hospital interim chief medical officer Dr. Lindsey Ragsdale said.

The hospital system will open a vaccine clinic for kids ages 5 to 11 on Monday, housed at the UK Healthcare outpatient facility at 245 Fountain Court in Lexington. Anyone interested in signing up should go to ukvaccine.org.

The clinic, Ragsdale said, is expected to handle up to 2,100 kids per week.

“We really want to get vaccines in the arms of as many kids as we can,” she said. “So if there’s things that we need to do to extend, we will be doing that. We anticipate that our template will be full soon.”

Norton Healthcare in the Louisville area is also preparing for a rush of kids who want the vaccine. 

Norton Medical Group operations director Sam Zuege said people should sign up online or through their pediatrician.

“Throughout the last couple of days as we’ve been able to open things and doing a rolling opening of multiple schedules, we’ve seen those fill up rather rapidly,” he said.

To sign up for a vaccine through Norton Healthcare can sign up nortonhealthcare.com.

An important part of signing kids up now is the timing. You wait three weeks to get the second dose and two weeks after that to get the full effect of the vaccine, so Norton Children’s infectious diseases expert Dr. Kristina Bryant said getting one now means being safe for Christmas.

“And those families, I think, are going to feel a lot more comfortable traveling for the holidays, getting together with other households, other family members to celebrate,” she said.

And staff at both hospitals say they’re prepared to also help educate parents about the effectiveness of the vaccine, and battle and misinformation that may be out there.

“Go talk to your pediatrician. See what they have to say,” Ragsdal said. “I think that what we’ll see is that this is a safe vaccine.” 

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