FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD) - Now that COVID-19 vaccines are approved for kids as young as 12, the Fort Worth ISD is getting involved in getting kids vaccinated.
The district is holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics at its 14 traditional high schools, starting Wednesday.
"It's an effort to get everybody back to some sense of normalcy as quickly as we can," says Clint Bond, Fort Worth ISD spokesman.
The participating high schools are:
Arlington Heights High School
North Side High School
Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
R.L. Paschal High School
O.D. Wyatt High School
South Hills High School
Western Hills High School
Amon Carter-Riverside High School
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
Trimble Tech High School
Benbrook Middle-High School
Polytechnic High School
Southwest High School
Eastern Hills High School
"We have partnered with a local pharmacy, Perrone Pharmacy, to provide us with about 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine," says Bond.
The only approved COVID-19 vaccine for kids under the age of 18 is the Pfizer vaccine, so a second dose will be required.
"When they get their first vaccine, they'll be given a date and time to come back for their second Pfizer dose," Bond says.
Between Wednesday and next Thursday, May 27, the clinics will be held at two schools at a time from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The clinics are geared towards, but not limited to, the students.
"Not only are students 12 and over eligible for those vaccines," says Bond, "but their eligible family members, their immediate family members, are also eligible."
Students are asked to, but are not required to, pre-register at their respective campuses.
"Pre-register just so we have an idea on how many people are coming," Bond says.
While the youngest students in the newly-approved age group would mainly be in middle school, the clinics are aimed at high school students.
"We're not promoting it within the middle schools," says Bond; "but certainly if any of the high school families have eligible family members that are middle school students, they could certainly bring them along."
To accommodate 12 to 15-year-olds, the Fort Worth ISD will be holding a one-day vaccine clinic this Saturday, May 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex, 505 W. Felix St.
That clinic is being held indoors, so it will go on, rain or shine.
The second dose will be administered Saturday, June 12.
While walk-ups are welcome there too, those people are also asked to pre-register at fortworthtexas.gov/covidshot.
