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Pediatric vaccinations – Legacy delivers COVID-19 shots to kids

By Brenna Wiegand

Recent approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine for children was welcome news to many families and communities across Oregon, especially those who have been hit hard by COVID-19.

It also gave Legacy Health staff in the Silverton region the green light to create ways of getting them out to kids from five to 11 years old quickly and efficiently.

Legacy Health worker administers a vaccination to a youngster during the Silverton High School clinic.

On Nov. 19, Legacy Health, in partnership with Silver Falls School District, hosted a pediatric vaccine clinic at Silverton High School for youth ages 5-11. That day, 90 children received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They were scheduled to return to Silverton High School on Dec. 10 for their second dose.

“We are so grateful to the community for coming together to get our children vaccinated,” said Wendy Boughton, R.N. Clinic Manager for Legacy Health. 

“Vaccines are our best tool to ensure that children can continue to participate in important activities like attending school in person and spending time safely with family and friends, particularly as the holidays approach.”

Last week the clinical team was at Woodburn High School providing vaccines to children aged 5-11 and their families.

As part of its effort to reach members of the community who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Legacy Health hosted more 40 mobile vaccination clinics, administering more than 2,600 vaccines that helped boost vaccination rates among Latinx and migrant farmworker communities. 

The mobile pop-up clinics offer convenient access to COVID vaccines for community members and their families. 

Legacy Health has administered more than 17,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to residents of northern Marion County at the local vaccination clinic it opened at Woodburn Health Center.