Puget Sound Fire administers vaccines to Tahoma district students | Update

A total of 908 Tahoma School District students ages 5 to 11 received COVID-19 vaccinations because of a partnership between Kent-based Puget Sound Fire, King County Medic One and the Tahoma School District.

Puget Sound Fire helped obtain the doses and its employees administered the shots on Nov. 9-10 at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley.

“Thank you Puget Sound Fire for putting on this wonderful clinic,” one woman posted on the fire agency’s Facebook page. “You all made it easy and enjoyable for the kids. We appreciate you.”

Puget Sound Fire serves the cities of Kent, Covington, Maple Valley and SeaTac.

“Puget Sound Fire would like to thank the Tahoma School District staff members who assisted at the vaccination clinic this evening, we couldn’t have done it without you,” the agency tweeted. “Thank You!”

The state Department of Health announced Nov. 3 that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is available for children 5 to 11 years old in Washington state.

The state Department of Health expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility following recommendations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, which reviewed data that found the vaccine to be safe and more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in younger children.

COVID-19 vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history, according to the state Department of Health. The vaccine’s safety was studied in approximately 3,100 children who received the vaccine and have had no serious side effects. Research shows COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity alone and that vaccines, even after prior infection, help prevent reinfection.

The Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 is administered as a two-dose primary series, three weeks apart.

Families with questions are encouraged to visit the state Department of Health webpage VaccinateWA.org/kids for information about vaccines and kids, or to talk to their child’s health care provider.