On November 2nd, the C.D.C. endorsed the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids between the ages of five and eleven. New York City began to mobilize, distributing a portion of its near quarter-million pediatric doses to doctors’ offices, hospitals, and vaccination centers. On Monday of this week, the city kicked off another part of its plan: meeting kids (and their parents) right where they are, with pop-up vaccination clinics planned for 1,070 schools throughout the five boroughs. P.S. 20 Anna Silver, a public school on the Lower East Side, had the good luck to host a vaccine clinic in the very first time slot of the very first day. A crew started setting up in the yellow-tiled cafeteria at 7 a.m.—one laminate lunch table commandeered for check-in, another for delivering shots, and two for the mandatory fifteen-minute rest and observation period that follows each shot. By the time the school day began, a scraggly line of kids and their parents stretched out the door, down the hallway, and outside into the sunshine. There were constrained shrieks of greeting near the rest tables, occasional twirls and snippets of song, and a perfectly understandable quantity of tears (cried by relieved adults as well as by children).
It would be something of a miracle if a sprawling, thousand-location medical undertaking were to go off without any problems at all. Midway through the morning, reports started circulating of delays and supply shortages at other schools’ pop-up clinics leaving hopeful parents and kids frustrated. (In response, the city health commissioner pointed parents toward the few thousand other places administering pediatric shots.) But things went smoothly at P.S. 20; by eleven o’clock, the flow of kids and parents into the ersatz clinic had stopped, and the vax team was packing up to leave. School employees hovered, ready to turn the room into a cafeteria again: the first wave of hungry students would be arriving soon for lunch.
Reyna Grace Rohr, five, kindergarten, and Sam Rohr, ten, fifth grade.
Did you have to wait in a line?
Sam: Yes. My parents had to fill out a form. Then we had to wait on line to get our vaccine shot. When I got the vaccine shot, I felt absolutely nothing.
Did your parents tell you anything about the vaccine?
Sam: Yes. They were just saying some stuff about taking these masks off and stuff.
When will you get to take them off?
Sam: When I’m fully vaccinated. But everybody has to be vaccinated so we all can take our masks off.
Adrian Diaz, ten, fifth grade.
Did any of your friends get shots today?
My friend Joe is about to get the shot.
How come you got to go first?
Because I was there before him.
What was it like?
I thought it was going to be painful, because my last experience of a shot I got a tetanus shot, which actually hurt a lot. It lasted two days. But this wasn’t hard. It was technically like a small pinch.
Do you think you’re brave?
Kind of.
June Hilgers, six, first grade.
Can you tell me what happened today?
They put alcohol on my skin, and then they shot it over the alcohol—which was like a really big pinch. It kind of stung a little bit, but it wasn’t, like, super-bad.
Are you happy that you got your shot?
Yes. And I just feel, like, O.K., now I’m waiting for the next one so I can go see my cousins on Christmas.
Joe Hanley, ten, fifth grade.
What happens now?
On the 29th, I have to get my second shot. My parents told me since I’m getting the shot I’m going to get like a hundred bucks from the city, so I’m excited.
That’s a lot of money.
In some terms, yes, but not really.
What are you going to do with it?
I might go to Target and see what they have, or I might just buy some video games.
Justin Ye, eight, fourth grade.
What was your favorite part of today?
Waiting in the line.
What was the worst part?
Sitting down.
Millie Viteri-Cornejo, eight, third grade.
When did you find out you were going to get the shot?
On Friday. My mom told me because our principal told all the parents that kids were able to get the vaccine here. She seemed excited.
Why do you think she was excited?
Because now I could get the vaccine. If you get COVID-19, it actually helps you to fight it.
Were you scared of COVID?
At the beginning.
But not lately?
No. Because I got the shot, and it’s not going to be that bad now.
Finch Mathison, eight, third grade.
Tell me about getting the shot today.
It just felt really weird. Like something’s pointing into your skin. It feels like a really sharp pine cone.
Have you been stabbed by a pine cone before?
I’ve touched it on my finger. The points are really sharp, and the vaccine’s really sharp. So it feels like a pine cone.
Jayden Griffin, eleven, sixth grade, and Julian Griffin, ten, fifth grade.
What are you going to do now that you have the vaccine?
Julian: I’m going to be begging my mom to take me to the gift shop in the Natural History Museum.
Jayden: We went there in the summer. There was a T. rex gift shop, like a prehistoric gift shop. He wanted something there.
And you can’t get that without a vaccine?
Julian: I’m pretty sure to get into the museum you need to show proof of vaccination. They’re, like, “Ma’am, or sir, please show me your vaccination card.”
Theo Thoms, six, first grade.
Wow, look at that Band-Aid! How did it feel?
Kind of bad. Because it was super-spiky.
Freddie Danielian, seven, second grade.
What’s going to happen now that you got the shot?
Orange juice.
You get to have orange juice?
Yes.
Why orange juice?
Because I love orange juice.
Catalina Monsanto, ten, sixth grade, and Gigi Monsanto, eight, third grade.
How did it go?
Catalina: We were a little nervous. I held Gigi’s hand because she was really nervous, but it went well.
Your dad told me that now that you’re vaccinated, you’re going to go see a Broadway show! What are you going to see?
Gigi: We’re going to see “Wicked.”
Are you excited?
Gigi: Yes! Everybody in our family is coming, excluding our dog.
Catalina: I think Gigi’s going to be obsessed with the songs, and she’s going to sing them at home.
Matthew Harrell, eight, third grade.
Did your dad give you advice before you got your shot?
If he did, I didn’t hear it. I was so distracted. Normally, if I’m distracted, I can’t hear anything.
Honestly, I’m the exact same way.
What? I couldn’t hear that.
You’ve got a great sense of humor! What’s your favorite joke?
My favorite joke is about banana peels. What do you call a banana that doesn’t peel?
I don’t know, what?
Unappealing!
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