When word came last week that the Pfizer pediatric vaccine had been approved for children ages 5 through 11, Lori Robinson had two questions: when and where? She added her sons Rowdy, 8, and Stetson, 5, to their family doctor’s wait list, but days later when she learned the vaccine was available at the local hospital, she was on her way.
Now the Robinson family is looking forward to new adventures.
From the start, the Klamath Falls family has chosen to err on the side of caution. With Lori facing health problems and her 75-year-old mom-in-law in the house, they had to. Both boys are home schooled, and Lori keeps them close. When they do go out, masks are a must. The vaccinations are a welcome game changer.
“Both my boys are healthy, but I firmly believe in getting all vaccinations,” Lori said. “I was raised getting all my vaccines and I’ve never had any problems. I have complete faith in my doctors, or I wouldn’t see them anyway. If you trust them with cold, flu and pain, you should trust them with this as well.”
She’s also experienced how COVID-19 vaccinations changed their lives after she and her husband, Jay, got theirs last spring. After a year of no travel, they ventured away from their south-central Oregon home for vacations at the coast, but still wore masks and practiced social distancing. “It gave us more comfort being around smaller groups of people and there was less worry.”
Rowdy and Stetson celebrated their first doses with dinner at a favorite restaurant followed by ice cream. Now, they’re looking forward to the second dose and the freedom that’s expected to come with it. But they’ll still be cautious, Lori said.
“We are going to be more likely to allow friends to come play,” she said. “We’ll be able to have better birthday parties. If people aren’t vaccinated, they’ll wear masks around our kids. But we won’t be as stressed out about it. One of the first things our kids want to do is go to the movie theater and go to the park and play with other kids.”
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