'Just a little pinch': Manitoba kids get some of province's 1st doses of pediatric COVID-19 vaccine

Juice boxes and kid-friendly stickers were at the ready as a group of Manitoba kids were among the first in the province to get the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday.

Among them was nine-year-old Ava Meconse, who was relieved to be a step closer to keeping people around her safer from the illness.

"I don't want to get my granny sick," she said, drinking a juice box after getting her first dose at Winnipeg's RBC Convention Centre.

And as a powwow dancer, the Grade 5 student said she's looking forward to a day when she won't have to wear a face mask at events anymore.

Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for kids age five to 11 last week. The pediatric shot is one-third of the dose used for older people.

Manitoba's first appointments for the age group were initially scheduled for Thursday, but 72 more spots opened up on Wednesday when doses arrived earlier than expected.

Ava's mom, Renata Meconse, said her family had already been talking about vaccination for months.

"She understands a lot about it, I think, because we've talked about it and prepared her," Renata said.

Nala Larson, 6, said she didn't think the vaccine clinic was so bad — it was actually kind of like going to the dentist, she said. And as for the needle itself?

"It was kind of just a little pinch," the Grade 1 student said. She even got to snack on a cookie afterward.

Scott Larson, her dad, said he's looking forward to their big family being able to all get together again as more Manitobans get vaccinated.

But for now, he and Nala are settling for a trip to the mall: a reward for his daughter after her first dose.

"I told her she could do whatever she wanted afterward, and she's going to take me up on it," he said.

Ava and Nala were with four other kids who also got their first doses after a provincial news conference at the convention centre about the pediatric vaccines on Thursday.