Vaccine opportunity for kids 12 to 16 at Port Charlotte Middle School

A vaccine site opens at Port Charlotte middle school Saturday for kids 12 to 16 years old, giving you another option if you want to get your teenager vaccinated.

All you have to do is go online to sign up. The Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County says the turnout for vaccinations in the 15-16 age group, in particular, has been merely OK so far—around 32,000 children ages 12 to 15 have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine by now—but it hopes by launching sites at schools and on weekends will get more people to come out and get the shot.

“We will be doing more school outreach, we have had conversations about embedding nurses in schools to be able to provide vaccinations when parents are picking up their children,” said Dr. Joseph Pepe, administrator for FDOH-Charlotte. “All of those are on the table. I think it’s really just a matter of being as flexible as possible and meeting people where they’re at.”

That age group of older teenagers is still around the median age for people infected with COVID-19. Pepe says the approval of this vaccine for this age group came at the perfect time: right before summer.

“We have camps coming up, so a lot of kids are getting together over the summertime and we will just want them to do that safely,” Pepe said. “We wanna make sure that we still continue that suppression of COVID[-19] as we set ourselves up for back-to-school again.”

As of now, around 1,100 Charlotte County kids in the group eligible for shots at the middle school have gotten them. The shot may have some more enhanced side effects with this age group because its members are young and healthy. It’s not anything for parents to be concerned about; if anything, doctors say, it’s a good thing.

“It does seem to have a more robust reaction in younger people because their immune system is generally stronger at that age,” said Dr. Rebekah Bernard with Gulf Coast Primary Care. “Again, not horribly severe, just a bit more than what we’re seeing in older teenagers and adults.”

Bernard also stressed that you should not give your child Tylenol or Advil before their vaccination—it wont help. It is fine, if they are feeling symptoms, to give them something after.

School districts here in Southwest Florida will not require proof of vaccination. Collier County says it will discuss the matter on June 8. A part of that discussion will include summer courses and optional mask wearing.