FORT WORTH, Texas — It was the moment 10-year-old Augie Bierbaum and his 7-year-old brother Henry Bierbaum waited months for.
Wednesday morning, their mother, Dionna Deardorf rushed the two brothers to get vaccinated at the Tarrant County Public Health building off of Main Street in Fort Worth. The center allowed walk-ins for pediatric vaccinations.
“I miss going to restaurants and like, going to fun places we haven’t gone to in two years,” said Augie.
After the two boys got vaccinated, they all walked outside and celebrated their emotional milestone.
“It is a huge day,” Deardorf said. “It’s been a long road for our family. Our youngest hasn’t been able to go to school since his kindergarten year, and we have family members with underlying medical issues, so we’re just excited to have some normalcy back in our lives.”
Tuesday, the CDC gave final approval to the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11. Wednesday morning, pediatric vaccines kicked off across Tarrant County.
Already, all Tarrant County Public Health buildings are administering the kid-sized doses. The location off of Main Street accepted walk-ins.
Cook Children’s Medical Center announced it received its first shipment of the kids doses, and that it would announce distribution plans soon.
Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said they’ve prepared a rollout plan to vaccinate the more than 204,000 children ages 5-11 across Tarrant County.
The county had pediatric doses shipped ahead of the CDC’s final approval.
Taneja said the best simplest way to vaccinate your child is through their doctor or the local pharmacy.
He urges parents to first check availability in Tarrant County.
“You’ll get the list of locations that are supposed to give the vaccine. Next thing would be to call your pediatricians office or the pharmacy and see if they have it, if they don’t, come to the health department,” said Taneja.
Denton County launched a registration portal to set up appointments.
CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens are also accepting pediatric vaccine appointments.
Walgreens will begin administering pediatric vaccines Saturday, and CVS will begin Sunday.
The Bierbaum brothers are thrilled that they’ll be fully vaccinated just in time for the holidays.
“My youngest said today, it was the best Christmas present we could get,” said Dierdorf.