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NYS says more than 50,000 kids 5-11 have gotten their first COVID vaccine dose

Amherst Central Schools partnered with Rite Aid to help that number, with a little under 390 children getting vaccinated there on Saturday.

AMHERST, N.Y. — Some parents from Amherst Central Schools had Saturday marked down on their calendar for awhile. 

"Once it had been through all the stages of approval, we really weren't hesitating to be first in line," Jessica Kane said. 

The district notified parents like Jessica Kane earlier in October that once the Pfizer shots got the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they would hold a vaccine clinic.

Jessica Kane brought her 6-year-old daughter, Aurelia, to get her first dose. 

"It was really easy to get her an appointment, and to come to a place convenient to where we lived and where she felt the most comfortable," Jessica Kane said. 

Officials from the district say almost 390 doses were given to kids at the clinic Saturday.

"No, it didn't hurt. At first I was scared, but then when she did it, I barely felt anything. It was just a little tap," 9-year-old Pryce Alexander said. 

It was a burden lifted off of many parents' shoulders such as Alexander's mom, Lisa Mick. 

"Yes it really is. Yep, it really is," Mick said. 

Now parents have another location aside from a pharmacy or pediatrician's office when deciding where to get their child vaccinated.   

Gov. Kathy Hochul says 10 of the state's mass vaccination sites can now give shots to kids ages 5 to 11. In Buffalo, it includes the University at Buffalo's South Campus.

In the first two weeks shots have been available, the state says 50,000 kids have already gotten their first dose.

With those 5 and under still waiting for a vaccine, Aurelia Kane just hopes there will soon be one for her 2-year-old sister. 

"Because I just want her to," Aurelia Kane said. "I want our whole family to be safe from coronavirus."

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