PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (WHDH) - Portsmouth, New Hampshire is one of a handful of communities in the Granite State that are going straight to the high schools to get teenagers vaccinated.
Fire Chief Todd Germain said his emergency medical technicians and paramedics gave shots of the Pfizer vaccine to eligible teenagers in the high school’s gymnasium.
“They’re coming out of class. They’re here for no more than 20 minutes and that includes their 15 minute observation time and they’re right back to class again,” he said.
Principal Mary Lyons said the voluntary clinic went smoothly with strong support from parents, no peer pressure, and an enthusiastic welcome from teachers and staff who were recently vaccinated at the high school as well.
“When we sent the information out that we would be disrupting classes on Monday, most of the responses that I got from staff was that’s totally fine. Bring it on. It’s OK,” Lyons said.
Germain said he is glad he can bring the vaccine to where the teenagers are.
“This age group are a large majority of those that are spreading the disease now and getting COVID infections and, you know, they’re human teenagers. They want to be together. They want to congregate. They want to have fun. Summer’s coming up,” he said. “They want to do things together after a whole year of not being able to do that and they’re gonna do it and we should do the best we can to get them vaccinated so they can do it safely.”
The students will get their second dose at school in May.
School officials say safety protocols like mask-wearing and social distancing will remain in place.
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