Mall of America provides vaccination clinic for children 6 months up to 5 years of age

Soraya Keiser, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
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Michelle Hicks, of St. Paul, pushed her double stroller up to the entrance of the Mall of America COVID-19 vaccination site Wednesday, making sure she wasn’t late for her 2 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. appointments. In the stroller were Ann and Matthew, 23-month-old twins who have only known life during the pandemic.

Wearing face shields, they looked around curiously as they went through the clinic, noticing the colorful balloons pinned up against the walls. The song “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen” was playing in the background, but it didn’t do much to drown out the occasional crying of a recently vaccinated child.

Ann and Matthew were two of the up to 250 children who received the COVID-19 vaccine at the MOA site in Bloomington on Wednesday. Children 6 months to 5 years old are now authorized to receive the vaccination after a recent recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Mall of America vaccination site is now open for this age group. It has 250 appointments available per day, and all of them are booked for this week. Many parents are struggling to get their children vaccinated as quickly as possible.

‘ANXIOUS TO GET THEM PROTECTED’

As vaccinations first began to roll out in 2021, most people were able to go about their daily lives to some extent. But that has not been the case for Hicks and her family.

“I have been waiting anxiously to get them protected,” Hicks said.

When Hicks wanted to get her twins vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, she at first had trouble booking an appointment. After unsuccessfully trying to go through her regular clinic, Hicks heard about the MOA site and instantly was online. All the appointments were booked, but after refreshing her browser many times, a few spots opened up.

Hicks and her husband both work in the office full time, and having unvaccinated children has made this harder. Ann and Matthew’s day care has been closed twice due to COVID-19 and they always seem to be doing “endless” testing.

“Hopefully, this will end a lot of that,” Hicks said.

GETTING AN APPOINTMENT

Anna Wagner Schliep, of St. Paul, said she had similar struggles getting a COVID-19 vaccination appointment for her 14-month-old son, LeRoy. After not finding answers to her questions through her pediatrician, Schliep managed to book an appointment through a vaccination site in Brooklyn Center managed by Hennepin County.

After LeRoy received his first dose of the Moderna vaccine Tuesday, Schliep felt both relieved and frustrated. Relieved that he can now be more protected against the virus and frustrated that it took so long.

“This whole time, he hasn’t had the level of protection that we’ve had,” Schliep said.

After LeRoy is fully vaccinated, Schliep is hoping to take him to the Minnesota State Fair.

“We live very close to there, so we were very excited to go there last year,” Schliep said. “But we didn’t feel comfortable doing that.”

Now she can.

DEMAND HIGH

Initial demand for vaccines in this age group was expected to be high, and it has been.

While the MOA site is one option for parents, Minnesota’s provider network — primarily large medical systems, pediatricians, local clinics and pharmacies — will administer most COVID-19 vaccines to children between 6 months and 5 years old. Vaccine shipments are expected to arrive at Minnesota providers in waves over the next week.

“Parents now have the choice to vaccinate our youngest children against COVID-19 with a safe and effective vaccine,” Dr. Nathan Chomilo, pediatrician at Park Nicollet and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, said in a written statement from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Parents can now book appointments for the Pfizer vaccine at the Mall of America site online by going to my.primary.health/r/vaxmn.

The MOA vaccination site is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments are required at the mall site, although some other clinics allow walk-ins.

Providers can be found using the state’s online Find Vaccine Locations map, which will be updated as vaccines arrive in Minnesota. Parents can also visit mn.gov/vaxforkids for more information. Initially, appointments may be limited.

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