FORT PIERCE, Fla. — St. Lucie Public Schools is starting off the summer by hosting vaccine clinics for students 12 and older at several campuses.
On Wednesday, 400 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were available at Fort Pierce Central High School.
The clinic is open to the entire community, not just students and their families.
"I feel better than I thought, than I did at the beginning," said Lindsay Heffron, 12. "A lot of people at my school are talking about it and one or two of my friends already got it."
The partnership to get more residents vaccinated is with Florida Community Health, as well as CDR Health.
At another clinic at Dan McCarty Middle School, 300 shots were available Wednesday.
"The benefit of that is, if we do have a case in the school and there has to be a contact-tracing investigation, we can quickly see who's already been vaccinated and those individuals, as long as they're not displaying symptoms, will not have to quarantine," said district spokeswoman Lydia Martin.
"It was very, very, simple," said Fort Pierce Central High School Principal Monarae-Miller-Buchanan.
She also received her first shot at the clinic Wednesday.
"I actually just said to myself, 'I should've done it a long time ago,'" said Miller-Buchanan. "I felt at home and everyone here, they were wonderful."
The clinics will continue throughout the rest of this week.
Clinics will be at Fort Pierce Westwood Academy from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Lincoln Park Academy from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday
The final clinic will be at Treasure Coast High School from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Those who receive their first shot at one of the clinics will return to the same site to receive their second shot when due.