SAN DIEGO — Coming in one by one, teens and pre-teens were unafraid to get the COVID-19 vaccine as the Pfizer vaccine is now open to ages 12 to 15 nationwide. That means an additional 175,000 San Diegans could get the shot.
"It's a little scary, but you'll get over it,” said 14-year-old Savannah Venegas, a Hoover High School Varsity softball team member, who says most of the team is already vaccinated fully.
At the Logan Heights Family Health Center, Savannah and her mother felt the vaccination was seamless.
“It was a quick process, she was in and out, it was only about 15 minutes,” said mother Gabby Venegas.
Venegas says her family is ready to get back to some sense of normalcy.
"We travel too, so we travel to Arizona and go to Lake Elsinore and other places for tournaments,” Venegas said.
Dr. Marsha Spitzer, chief of pediatrics at Family Health Centers of San Diego says part of the path to getting kids back to normal lives is for children to be vaccinated.
Emily Acosta, a 12-year-old sixth grader at Perkins Elementary School, says she was excited to finally get the vaccine.
"To show to my brothers that I'm not afraid of taking it,” said Acosta, whose parents both got the shot, but her two big brothers will not.
"They should be brave to show other students or other people or teenagers to get it,” said Acosta. She was initially nervous because she just got the flu shot and another shot hours before her COVID vaccine.
New CDC guidance says getting multiple vaccines in a day is fine.
“The only cap I guess would be how much room do you have in your arms? Children’s immune systems are very well prepared to handle it. We will be able to vaccinate them against their regular vaccines as well as COVID at the same time,” Dr. Spitzer said.
More parents say they are getting behind their kids getting the vaccine.
“I feel like parents should bring their kids to get vaccinated, only because they are the ones who are more at risk of exposure because they are going to school now,” Gabby Venegas said.
But there are also worries for youth side effects including discomfort at the injection site. About 77 percent of kids reported feeling some fatigue and less than half had chills, muscle pain or fever.
"We know that they are extremely effective, and they are extremely safe. I have teenagers of my own, and I had no problem recommending that they should be vaccinated as soon as they were eligible. I am not concerned that the side effects are going to be mysterious. The science should not affect menstrual cycle, pregnancy or any of those conditions that moms may be thinking about for their daughters as they get older,” Dr. Spitzer said.
She also says studies are underway for vaccinating children 11 and under.
“They will also be looking at what’s the right dose for a child, because a smaller child’s dose may not be the same as an adult dose. Probably by the fall, Pfizer and Moderna could have that authorization to vaccinate younger children."
The Logan Heights family Health Center is open Tuesday to Saturday until 4:30 pm.
WATCH: San Diego County ramps up efforts to get more teens, young people vaccinated