Royce Peterson of the Baker County Health Department, left, administers a COVID-19 vaccine dose to Gwen Swart, 5, as she sits on her mom Anna's lap Friday morning, Nov. 5.

The pair of five-year-olds are discussing COVID-19 vaccinations, and it’s a serious conversation.

“I hate waiting,” says Gwen Swart.

“It just makes it scarier,” says Sloan Defrees, her fellow Baker City kindergartner.

“Sloan,” Gwen replies with an earnestness that belies her age, “you already got your shot.”

Sloan’s gentle response:

“Gwen, don’t worry.”

Five minutes later, both these girls had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the Baker County Health Department.

Gwen and Sloan were among about 25 children, ages five to 11, who were inoculated Friday morning, Nov. 5, the first group in that age range in the county to receive the vaccine that gained federal approval earlier in the week. There are about 1,200 children in that age group in the county.

Although the vaccine wasn’t available everywhere in Oregon on Friday, Nancy Staten, director of the Health Department, said the agency took advantage of a brief opportunity to place an order for doses and the smaller needles that are used to administer the vaccine to small children.

“We’re fortunate in that regard,” Staten said.

Gwen’s and Sloan’s mothers, Anna Swart and Jess Defrees, agreed.

Anna Swart said she and her husband, Tony, who both work at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City, have been eagerly anticipating the approval of the vaccine for younger children.

Swart, who also works in Baker schools, said she and her husband were both inoculated soon after the vaccines became available in December 2020.

Swart said she’s also had a booster shot.

“We just want to do our part in ending this,” she said. “COVID has affected all of our lives so much.”

Swart said it was an easy decision to have Gwen vaccinated.

“She doesn’t have a high risk of becoming very sick, but she could still spread it to others,” Swart said of her daughter.

Once Gwen is vaccinated, Swart said she hopes that should her daughter be exposed to the virus at school, she would not have to quarantine.

Swart said she is completely confident in the safety of the vaccine, and that the possibility of a reaction to the vaccine is much lower than the chance that Gwen could be infected with the virus.

“I trust the doctors, the CDC, the FDA, in making the right choice for our kids,” Swart said.

She said she has talked often with Gwen about COVID-19 and the vaccines.

“I don’t want her to be scared of COVID, and she isn’t,” Swart said. “We’ve talked more about protecting her and others from getting sick.”

Defrees, whose husband, Nathan, is a doctor, said they also had no qualms about having Sloan vaccinated as soon as doses were available.

Jess Defrees, who has taught science at Baker Middle School and is the Talented and Gifted program coordinator for Baker elementary schools, said the pandemic, and the creation of the vaccines, has been an educational experience.

“It’s been pretty exciting to see science at work,” Defrees said. “I understand how vaccines work. We’ve done our due diligence as a scientific community to make sure (the vaccines) are safe.”

Defrees and her husband are, like the Swarts, both vaccinated.

Jess Defrees said having Sloan vaccinated is valuable both in protecting her and others.

Her younger daughter, Roslyn, is two, and thus not eligible to be vaccinated. Jess Defrees is also pregnant with the couple’s third child.

She said she has talked with Sloan about vaccines — how they work, and how they help protect her and others.

“It’s really important that we do our part to protect them and the rest of our community,” Defrees said. “(Sloan) has been telling everybody that she’s getting her COVID shot today.”

Defrees said she’s grateful that the Health Department was able to get doses in time for kids to be fully vaccinated — they’ll get their second shots in about three weeks — before Christmas.

Getting the shot

Royce Peterson leans over Sloan with a needle, trying to ease her anxiety.

“Does it hurt?” Sloan asks her mom, who’s sitting beside her, with Roslyn on her lap.

“Just a little poke,” Defrees tells Sloan.

Peterson tells Sloan that he’ll count to three, and that she should cough when he calls out the last number.

She coughs.

“Did that hurt?” Peterson asks.

Sloan shakes her head.

“You’re done,” her mom says.

Peterson puts a bandage on Sloan’s thigh — she’s small enough that she was inoculated in her leg rather than her shoulder — and asks her where she wants the yellow sticker proclaiming that she has had her COVID-19 vaccine.

Sloan points to her shirt, and Peterson presses the sticker into place.

Back in the waiting room, where the just-vaccinated wait for 15 minutes just in case they have a reaction, Sloan tells Anna Swart that “it hurts a little.”

School superintendent glad vaccine available

Mark Witty, superintendent of the Baker School District, said on Friday morning, Nov. 5, that he’s pleased a COVID-19 vaccine is available for children five to 11.

“I recognize it’s a family choice, but it’s another tool families could use to protect children and close family members,” Witty said.

He said he hopes the availability of the vaccine for elementary age students will help keep Baker schools operating in a relatively normal fashion, as has been the case since classes start in late August.

The latest report from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), from Nov. 3, showed no active outbreaks in any Baker schools.

The report, which also lists recent cases in schools, has two student cases at Brooklyn Primary School, the most recent onset Oct. 24, and two students from Baker Middle School, with the most recent onset Oct. 16.

Witty said the number of students throughout the district who have been out of school, either because they tested positive or were a close contact with someone who tested positive, has dropped substantially over the past month or so, from a daily average of 40 to 50 to around 10 to 20.

“We are really pleased that the numbers have declined quite a bit over the past three or four weeks,” Witty said. “I think we’ve demonstrated that we can be successful at keeping the virus out of school.”

Although there have been cases confirmed in students and staff this school year, Witty said there’s no evidence that the virus has spread within schools.

He credits parents who have kept kids home if they felt ill, the daily health checks that school officials perform on students, consistent mask wearing, and frequent sanitation of surfaces in schools.

Witty said he’s optimistic about a proposal, under consideration among state education officials, that could limit the number of students required to quarantine by allowing students who are close contacts to stay in school if they have a negative test.

Parents interested in scheduling a vaccination for children ages 5 and older can call the Baker County Health Department at 541-523-8211.