Hundreds of kids in northeastern Ontario have already rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 shot

Piitoweh Eshkibok-Keeshig proudly rolls up his sleeve to show off his bandage, but the 8-year-old admits he was a little nervous about getting the needle. 

"It was sort of painful for like one second, but then it was done," he says.

Liz Eshkibok brought her two kids to the Carmichael Arena Wednesday morning for one of the first vaccine clinics for children in the Sudbury area. 

"With the cases rising and the new variant, the Omicron coming out, I just want the best possible chance for my children at survival," she says, adding that she kept them calm with toys, a Winnie the Pooh story and a bundle of tobacco to hold onto. 

The kids' grandfather Karl Keesig was due for his booster shot and tagged along. 

"It's a memory really. They are both aware that something is going on in the world," he says.

"So when they heard the vaccine was coming out, they were both excited about it."

They aren't the only children aged five to 11 excited about being eligible for the Pfizer COVID vaccine.

Public health officials in Sudbury-Manitoulin say more than 1,300 kids or about 9 per cent of that population have gotten the shot already.

The North Bay-Parry Sound health unit reports that 680 children have been vaccinated so far and in Sault Ste. Marie, where COVID has been spreading rapidly in recent weeks, clinics for kids have been booked solid. 

But in Temiskaming, public health officials say only 72 per cent of the children's appointments for this week were booked.

Anderson Whittington, a Grade 6 student at R. L. Beattie school in Sudbury, says he was a little nervous about facing the needle, but believes it's important to get vaccinated. 

"Just so I'm a little bit safer at school and from COVID-19. We went online already two times this year. Getting the vaccination is just safer," says the 11-year-old. 

"I know it's never going to be completely over, I just can't wait for it to die down a lot."

Minutes after getting the shot, Jessica Tarini's kids were focused on the loot bags they left the vaccination clinic with.

For the Sudbury mom, she's hoping this means the end of the pandemic is in sight. 

"To get back to normal. We've already done two ten-day stretches of isolation and it's impossible on working parents to kind of manage that," Tarini says.