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Lainey Orr had no hesitation in signing up for her vaccination appointment in Lawrence today.
The Eudora 15-year-old was ready after the Pfizer vaccine was approved for ages 12-15 on Wednesday.
“I’ve been excited,” Orr said. “I want just everyone to get it.”
Younger teens began receiving the vaccine in Douglas County on Thursday. There were 59 individuals between 12-15 who received the vaccine at LMH Health, said public health spokesman George Diepenbrock.
Orr is the second-to-last member of her family to receive the vaccine. Her older siblings, Maizey, 17, and Truman, 19, along with her parents, have all received the vaccine, leaving just Lainey and her younger brother Pullen 11.
Maribeth Orr, Lainey’s mom, said their family has missed holidays gatherings and have avoided seeing friends and family outside of their own household this past year because of the coronavirus.
Now that the Orr family can see the possibility of being fully vaccinated, she said they’re getting excited to interact with others in a more normal capacity.
“I want to hang out with my sister, and I want to hang out with my niece and nephew,” Maribeth Orr said. “I want to be able to hug my mom and not worry that I could be carrying something.”
Lainey Orr said her friends have been unable to get together as one big group since the start of the pandemic. As she and her peers receive the vaccine, she’s looking forward to going out to dinner together or just simply just hanging out without worrying about the virus.
“We haven’t been able to do any of that, so we’re all looking forward to doing that,” she said. “Just going to dinner or something like that.”
Maribeth Orr, who is a family doctor at Eudora Family Care, said she had no hesitancy getting the vaccine and signing her family up to get it as well. She said she trusts the professionals who have spent their lives researching immunology.
“They’ve done the research for us,” she said. “We’re just thankful that we have those types of people that are devoting everything they can to keep our family safe. I don’t have hesitancy because that’s been removed for me by the professionals and our scientists who know what they’re doing.”
Lainey Orr said she has friends who, like her, are signing up to get the vaccine as soon as possible, but others are still hesitant.
“They can have their own opinions about that,” Lainey Orr said. “It’s not my place to talk to them about it.”
While she probably won’t see it this academic year, Lainey Orr said she is excited at the prospect of school and activities without a mask once it’s deemed safe by local officials.
“Just being more social; it makes it way easier to be social and you can see people’s emotions,” Lainey Orr said. “It’ll be a good thing.”
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday the state would adopt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest recommendations, which say mask wearing and social distancing are no longer required by fully-vaccinated individuals.
The CDC defines fully vaccinated as two weeks following the administration of the second shot in a two-dose series or two weeks following the administration of a single-dose vaccination.
In a Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health news release, Douglas County Health Officer Thomas Marcellino said the county would address the new guidelines during the Douglas County Commision meeting on Wednesday. Until then, Douglas County’s mask mandate remains in place.
Pending the full vaccination of her family, Maribeth Orr said she looks forward to going to waterparks, riding roller coasters and doing all of the things her family loves to do together.
“It’s little things we’re looking forward to,” she said. “It’s shopping, roller coasters and water parks for our family, and hugging our family is what we’re ready to do.”
She said she will pull Lainey out of school Friday during her lunch break to visit the vaccination site at LMH Health.
“We’re just going to have a vaccination party,” Maribeth Orr said. “Get her going [with] number one Pfizer.”
Vaccine appointments can be made for anyone ages 12 and older in Douglas County at LDCHealth.org/COVIDVaccine.
Reach reporter Cami Koons at [email protected].
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