Teens getting vaccinated as eligibility expands

Teenagers are now rolling up their sleeves for their COVID-19 vaccines.

Everyone who is 12 and older is now eligible to receive a COVID vaccine. Parents must provide consent for anyone who is 12 to get the shot. People who are 13 or older can give consent themselves.

Terri Leniuk’s 15-year-old daughter, Madelynne, received her first dose of the vaccine Thursday. Leniuk’s 17-year-old daughter, Abigail, goes for her shot on Friday.

“They’ve been waiting for this and anticipating just being able to hopefully open up their lives a bit. They’ve been great about the restrictions and following the rules but having one in high school and one in the workplace, knowing that they weren’t vaccinated has been a really difficult thing,” Leniuk said.

“My husband and I were both able to get vaccinated mid-April and now to just have that kind of security on the horizon for them, it’s just been a relief.”

Leniuk said sending her kids to school has been tough, but they’ve been fortunate to not have any close contact incidents.

“But you’re constantly waiting for it,” Leniuk said. “You’re waiting for that situation, you’re waiting for something to happen and this doesn’t take any of that away.

“We know something can still happen and we know we need to follow the rules but it just gives you that extra element of protection where we can feel a little bit of relief.”

She admitted Madelynne was hesitant about the vaccine at first but the family got together to talk about it.

“She knew that this was how things were going to come to an end and she wants to go out and have a life again. It was her decision; it was both (of the girls’) decisions. They can consent as they wish but she decided this was the right choice and she decided what to do so she can help end this,” Leniuk said.

She said Madelynne’s hesitations came from all the different information and messages she was seeing on the news and social media.

“I think it’s just so much information that they’ve never had to listen to about vaccines before so I think it’s just an overload of information more than anything,” Leniuk said. “Once she thought it through a bit and we had a chance to talk about it, there was just nothing for her to worry about.”

Abigail said she’s eager to see her extended family after she’s vaccinated.

“I can’t wait to see my aunties and get back to normal, whatever normal is,” Abigail said.

And Leniuk says it brings everything that much closer to opening up again.

“My mom is in a care home in Regina and I sure want to be able to go through those doors and comfortably see her soon,” Leniuk said. “It gives us all a little bit of peace of mind.”