With the summer break on the horizon, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) began administering COVID-19 vaccines in the province’s school system on Monday.
Grade 10 student Dylon Pelletier, 16, said he would have got his first shot anywhere after talking with family members who had already received theirs.
“I came here today to get a vaccine because why not. It’s for free and it’s better to take what you can get,” he said on Monday in Regina.
“I didn’t really want to get it. Like, there was no need for me to get it but you got to protect your family … so you got to take the vaccine.
“Hopefully school will become better, going to clubs after school. That’s all I really want. Just to hang out and socialize again … I’m a teen after all.”
Provincial government officials have said there will be over 90,000 Pfizer vaccines for eligible elementary and high school students 12 years of age and older.
Officials added drive-thru and walk-in clinics will have reduced scheduled during the school immunizations over the next three weeks to ensure this group is immunized prior to the end of the school year.
A total of 725,648 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saskatchewan, provincial government officials said on Monday. Of the 539 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the province, two have been in the 19-and-under age group.