Now that COVID vaccines are approved for many younger children, Boston's new mayor is getting her own son vaccinated.
Mayor Michelle Wu visited a family vaccination clinic at Prince Hall Grand Lodge, run in partnership with the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, in Boston Saturday, where her 6-year-old son, Blaise, got his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
"This is the best thing that we can do to protect our families, protect our whole communities, keep schools opens and businesses open," Wu said.
About 515,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 in Massachusetts are now eligible for the shots. They were approved earlier this month, a small shot for elementary-age students but a big step toward herd immunity against the novel coronavirus.
The state has been planning since the spring to make the vaccine and information about it available through parents' most trusted sources of information, like schools and pediatricians.
Parts of three school years have been disrupted by the pandemic, leading to months of remote learning, masking requirements for kids and school-based testing programs run in some cases by the National Guard.
Currently, 14% of children in Boston between the ages of 5 and 11 have received their first dose of the vaccine.
