At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, 14-year-old Clinton resident Rosemary Williamson is getting her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Administering the shot, a nurse begins "Okay, 1, 2, 3."
Rosemary replies "Oh that's not that bad."
Rosemary says the pandemic changed almost everything about school and extracurricular activities like band. She says she doesn't talk with friends about the vaccine often, but when it comes up she's heard mixed feelings.
"I really wanted to get it just because I am going to another country this summer and I think that's important for me, and I would love for people my age to get [vaccinated], but I think a lot of them are a little bit uncertain about it just because, you know, we're not 16 or up."
Rosemary's mother Amy Williamson got her vaccine on the first day she was eligible a couple of months ago.
"I'm really glad that she embraced it. We talked about it and all the things that you hear and she really worked it through in her own head. Now she can go and do these things that we were planning to do with protection."
Health officials are encouraging more Mississippi parents to get their children vaccinated. State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers says more than 22 thousand kids in Mississippi have tested positive for the coronavirus, and some faced severe symptoms.
Byers says "Although it's less likely in the younger kids, we do know that older adolescents can be a source of transmission for those individuals in the household that can in times lead to infections in very vulnerable individuals."
A list of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine providers can be found on the Department of Health's website.
