SAN ANTONIO — Roughly 17 percent of Bexar county residents became eligible for a COVID-19 shot Tuesday, when the Centers for Disease Control expanded vaccine access to children between ages 5 and 11.
There are roughly 330,000 children in this age group living around San Antonio.
"It is a level of peace of mind that's been rare during this pandemic - to know that your child in school is able to be vaccinated," Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Tuesday.
Parents can begin scheduling vaccination appointments for their children at the Wonderland Mall on Wednesday. University Health will administer 5,000 of the shots, tailored for children, at its mall vaccination site on Thursday and Friday.
Other parents should call their pediatricians to make an appointment. Metro Health will prioritize pediatric doctors' offices as "first essential sites for COVID-19 vaccines" when it doles out doses, Nirenberg said.
Metro Health director Claude Jacob said those shots are already on order and should be available next week.
Children who take a vaccine are eligible for the county's vaccine incentive program which rewards recipients with a $100 gift card to H-E-B, Jacob said.
"Talk with your pediatrician," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. "Make sure you feel comfortable about it, and then hopefully you'll decide to give them the vaccine."
Vaccines will also be available at some schools.
North East ISD says it will not offer the vaccine during school hours, but there will be opportunities to get vaccinated on campus. Parents and guardians would need to accompany their children and sign consent forms on-site.
NEISD administrators say they hope to host a vaccine drive on Thanksgiving break and another on a Dec. Saturday.
Northside ISD says its efforts to vaccinate elementary school children will mirror its efforts to vaccinate middle and high schoolers.
San Antonio ISD aims to offer all students an opportunity to get both shots prior to winter break.