LOUISVILLE, Ky.— More Kentucky kids can now get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The very first COVID-19 vaccines went into the arms of some little Kentuckians Friday morning. Norton Healthcare now offers the shot for children 6 months and older at their Norton Children’s Medical Group offices. 

Dr. Kris Bryant, with Norton Children’s Infectious Diseases, said the wave of omicron affected a lot of kids, so the vaccines are much needed.

“We’ve been talking for months that young children are vulnerable to COVID and we really saw that play out in Louisville during the Omicron wave. We saw increases in young kids who were admitted to the hospital because they were sick with COVID. So, now we can protect those kids,” Bryant said.

Four-year-old Stella got her first COVID vaccine Friday. She’s a heart transplant patient. Her mother said she was born with a congenital heart defect. Stella even suffered both respiratory and cardiac arrest at just 6 months old.

Now, she’s a health-looking and happy 4-year-old, Stella’s mother said.

“Because she has overcome so much in her life, we just feel like we need to do everything we can to protect her and to keep her as healthy as possible. The COVID vaccine is an additional protection that we can give her to try to keep her as healthy as possible. Because she is a heart transplant patient and she is immunocompromised, we just don’t know how COVID would impact her.” Mari-Elise Paul, Stella’s mother explained.

Doctor Heather Felton’s 3-year-old daughter also got the COVID-19 vaccine Friday. 

“It’s really been proven to be a safe vaccine,” Felton explained. “I didn’t have any reservations about giving it to any of my children, but not my child under 5, either.”

Norton said for Friday and the following weekend, hundreds of kids are already signed up to get their vaccines. Norton said they’re trying to make the vaccine as readily available as possible, to as many children as possible. If you’d like to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine via Norton Healthcare, click here.