Many parents across the Valley are among the first to get their children under 5 years old vaccinated against COVID-19. Pleasant Pediatrics' offices filled up with patients Tuesday. It was the first full day that they offered COVID vaccinations for this final and youngest age group.
Eighteen-month-old Ziva walked into her doctor's appointment. She was born around the same time that adults first started getting their shots against COVID-19.
"It's been a long, long two years of us being home and I was pregnant for the first year so, being worried about that because those statistics are really bad... pregnant women with COVID. Then, her being a baby. So, it's just been a long, kind of isolated two years," says Hannah Creviston.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has been preparing for the rollout by inviting health care providers and retail pharmacies across the state to pre-order the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine through its system.
"We already have approximately 68,000 doses that are going to be hitting here, Arizona, this week. So, some in this first wave have already been received. We're anticipating the others to arrive today and tomorrow," says Carla Berg, deputy director with the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Arizona DHS tells us it will be closely monitoring the demand and continue to make weekly allocations available.
Pleasant Pediatrics expects to see around 200 patients a day, across all of its six locations. Although children might be less susceptible to the virus, Dr. Tracy Hung with Pleasant Pediatrics says they aren't immune.
"I would say most symptoms are pretty mild, but we do have some patients with more severe symptoms, and some even have to go to the hospital," says Dr. Hung.
The shot was pretty easy for 2-year-old George, who didn't even make a sound.
"It feels like the start of something really good for our family, especially for him. I mean, he's really social, he loves kids, and we can breathe easy," says Vince Malouf, George's father.
Arizona DHS will be updating its vaccine finder to include providers that are seeing patients between six months and five years old.