It’s the moment many people have been waiting for, the arrival of the child-sized doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. In a quick media statement Tuesday evening, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced that they’ve received their first doses of the vaccine meant for kids, and they will start giving them out on Thursday. That’s a good thing because there are a lot of eager people waiting to get their kids a shot.

According to WDG Public Health’s communication specialist Danny Williamson, they’ve now received 17,100 doses of the vaccine, which is enough vaccine to get over 70 per cent of the kids in the region their first shot. Per Public Health’s strategy announced last week, the vaccine will be handed out at special clinics, select pharmacies, and the offices of your family physician starting on Thursday.

Along with the main Public Health vaccine clinic on the main level of Stone Road Mall, the Guelph Family Health Team has announced that they are opening an additional clinic on the lower level of the mall. That clinic will open on Thursday, and will be giving out shots Monday through Thursday, from 1 to 8 pm, until December 16.

“With the expectation of vaccinating the roughly 10,500 Guelph children in this age group, having one site with easy access is the goal.” said Guelph Family Health Team executive director Ross Kirkconnell in a statement. “The site in the mall is a great collaboration between the Guelph Family Health Team and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. We have collaborated to pull this together quickly to make this important public health measure as successful as possible.”

Although these moves come less than a week after Health Canada announced the approval for the child doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Thursday’s not quick enough for some parents. On Monday, Public Health reported that their phone lines were overwhelmed with people looking to book vaccine appointments for their kids.

Instead of calling, Public Health is asking people to use the online portal to book appointments for kids to get their shots, which you can find here.

If you have questions about COVID vaccines for kids, Public Health is holding an online information night with parents and caregivers on Thursday December 2 at 7 pm with associate medical officer of health Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum. You can register for the info night now on the Public Health website, and you can also send your questions in advanced by accessing the form here.

As it stands right now, 86.8 per cent of people born in 2009 and before are now fully vaccinated in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, while 88.9 per cent have received one shot. In Guelph alone, now 92.1 per cent are fully vaccinated and 94.2 per cent have had one shot.

When factoring in the total population, 75.5 per cent of the region is fully vaccinated, while 77.4 per cent have received one dose. According to the most recent census data, there are 23,500 kids between the ages of 5 and 11 in the region, and 10,500 of them are in Guelph.