On Thursday, COVID-19 vaccination availability opened to teens as young as 12-years-old to receive the Pfizer vaccine prompting four cousins in the Northwest suburbs to take advantage of the new opportunity.
The four cousins are 13 and 14-years old and were all eligible to get their vaccinates at an Advocate Health Care Clinic in Des Plains together on Thursday.
“It’s unbelievable I’m so excited. I didn’t think vaccine would be out this early,” said 13-year-old Maeve Deane, one of the relatives to receive the shot. “It’s nice to know they are doing it with me too.”
Maeve’s mother has been anxiously waiting for the FDA’s approval so her family members yet to receive the shot could be vaccinated.
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“They are the last four out of 27 of us, so 23 of us are fully vaccinated,” Shioban Deane said. “It is incredible. I can’t even put into words emotions I’m feeling right now.”
One of the cousins, 14-year-old Michael Pacheco, is immuno-compromised and his family is especially grateful for his eligibility to receive the vaccine.
“He's in the hospital every week for infusions and he’s had a lot of blood work,” Siobhan said. “ut of all the pokes in the arm he's gotten this is by far the most important."
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Michael has been living away from his parents and with his grandparents since the beginning of the pandemic to further protect him from outside interaction.
“I moved my son in with my parents in March of 2020 when we heard how bad virus was. Six weeks and counting until I can have him under my roof again,” Ella Pacheco, Michael’s mother, said. “It means we can be together again and safely hug each other and be a family”
