Ethan Kramer was about to get a shot, but he wasn’t nervous — he was excited.
“Soon I won’t have to wear a mask all the time," said Kramer.
Ethan is the very first student to be vaccinated at P.S. 65 on Staten Island. It's one of about 200 public schools that hosted vaccine clinics Monday. Those clinics will move from school to school until every school serving students ages five through eleven has offered the child-sized dose of the vaccine.
“We were actually already scheduled at a CVS to do it. Honestly, to do it at the school is wonderful. They can come here, they can be brave, they can be amongst their peers, so it was a no brainier in that respect," said his mother, Nawal Kramer.
When it was time for the shot it was over fast.
“It doesn’t hurt that much, and after like ten minutes it goes away," said Ethan.
His younger brother Lucas was up next.
For their mom, the decision to vaccinate her children was about keeping them — and others — safe.
“We have some family that is older and sick and has chosen not to get vaccinated which, you know, we respect their their choice to do so. But you know, we'd like to do our end and feel comfortable visiting them and being around them as well," said Nawal.
Not every parent is as eager to vaccinate their children. Vaccination remains optional for public school students, but Porter hopes schools can help parents feel more at ease with the inoculation.
“There’s a level of hesitation, but I think as families have seen over 80% of New Yorkers are vaccinated. And so as our older children got vaccinated, adults got vaccinated parents of younger children are feeling a lot more comfortable then the nervousness that we had earlier," said Chancellor of NYC public schools, Meisha Porter.
At some schools there seemed to be no hesitancy now, with lines forming outside.
On day one the mayor already talked about he possibility of expanding vaccine availability where there's a big demand.
Schools though aren't planning to administer the second shot, students will have to get those elsewhere.