CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This weekend, your younger kids can get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dozens of kids and their parents went to McClintock Middle School Saturday to get vaccinated at an event hosted by Novant Health and Mecklenburg County.
It was a big day for 8-year-old Marin Scott.
“I am getting my COVID vaccine,” he said. His parents said they wanted him to be vaccinated as soon as they could.
“We've been patient throughout the entire pandemic and try to be safe through everything and not taking any risks, so now that the vaccine is available there was nothing to think about," Brandon Scott, Marin's dad, said.
With a little distraction, Marin barely flinched and was done in seconds.
"A little bit it felt like a pinch, but not as bad as a scrape as I got," he explained.
Marin’s mom, Lore Emelio, said the shot was for more than just him.
“He goes to school at Park Road Montessori and, we care about our classmates and our teachers and our community,” she said.
The dose for the five to 11-year-old group is a third of the dosage people 12 and older receive, and emelio says she was comfortable with him receiving it.
"Every doctor that I know in Charlotte and beyond I have spoken to, they have kids his age, and I've asked all of them and they were all an immediate yes," Emelio explained.
But not everyone had the easiest time.
Though she was nervous, Latisha Hensley’s 5-year-old daughter Kaylee took her shot like a champ.
“Afterwards she didn’t feel anything," Hensley said.
Hensley said the vaccine availability for little ones came just in time for the holidays.
“Everyone in my family is all vaccinated, so just to be safe I wanted Kaylee to be vaccinated so we can see family and friends this year,” she said.
Contact Lana Harris at lharris@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram.