Palm Beach County Healthcare District’s mobile vaccine bus offered free Pfizer shots to the community in Jupiter High’s Daniel’s Way parking lot on Sept. 8. 

The vaccine bus will administer the first Pfizer dose to every high school in the county until Sept. 24. Jupiter High was their first stop; the vaccines were available from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“[This event] really is just bringing the vaccines to people in our community that are wanting them and haven’t had the opportunity to get them,” Dr. Colleen Iannitti, Jupiter High school’s principal, said.

The bus will return to Jupiter High to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sept. 29. 

“We give them a date [for when they get their second dose] on the back of the [vaccination] card and let them know it’s going to be in the same spot [where we administered their first dose],” Lekeatha Harris, a volunteer for PBCHD, said.

People under the age of 18 need a guardian’s permission to get the vaccine. Jacquelyn Felipe, a Jupiter High sophomore, is one of the students who needed her parent’s permission to get vaccinated.

“My parents were unsure [about the COVID-19 vaccine] at first, but they want me to get vaccinated now because my mom is about to have another child,” Felipe said.

After getting vaccinated, patients are required to stay at the vaccination for 15 minutes to see if they get any adverse effects such as numbness or swelling from the vaccine. Patients will also receive incentives.

“We’ll give them a $10 coupon to the grocery store, and they get the brochure in regards to information regarding the vaccine and a lovely sticker,” Kim Bush, the site leader of the event, said.

Students who did not get vaccinated at Jupiter High can still get vaccinated at other Palm Beach county schools. Visit Mobile Vaccination Clinic to find out when the vaccination bus will visit each school.