'Still Some Anxiety': Principal Helps Organize COVID Vaccine Clinic For Students

DENVER (CBS4) - Nationally 1 in 5 COVID-19 cases during the last week of March were young people younger than 18. The work to get as many who are eligible in Colorado for a shot is now underway.

"So this was just an attempt to help out our kid, and help out the staff too, because I think there's still some anxiety with teaching, teachers around, you know having 1,300 kids in the building," said Mike Christhoff, principal at Thomas Jefferson High School.

Christoff realizes some of the challenges, so he worked with an acquaintance involved in setting up vaccination sites to bring one to his school on April 24 which will be their first dose, and a second site on May 15.

"She reached out to me on March 29, and obviously it goes a little bit of time to go through the paperwork process with CDPHE, but she was able to get that pushed through pretty quickly," he said.

Christoff understands, just like adults, some kids may also feel hesitant.

"Do your research and we absolutely 100% respect that," he told CBS4.

However, he is hopeful more students than not will seize this opportunity. It could be key to them getting back to their daily school routine, as well as extracurricular activities.

"We hope to get everybody vaccinated that is 16 and older," he said.

So far 100 students have already signed up. They will have about 700 doses on hand, anyone under 18 who is eligible must be accompanied by a parent.

LINK: TJ High School COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Sign Up

Denver Public Schools also announced a list of vaccine clinics for its students over the course of the next three weekends.