A COVID-19 vaccination clinic for children ages 5-18 will be set up at the Lisbon Community School gymnasium on Jan 6-7.

To prepare for the clinic, the Lisbon School Department is conducting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic survey for the families.

“We were encouraged by the Department of Education to communicate any vaccine-related information to our families to provide additional options for them to consider,” said Lisbon School Department Superintendent Richard Green. “We believe that scheduling a local vaccine clinic for our families would be convenient and helpful.”

Julie Nichols, the director of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the Lisbon School Department, said they are conducting the survey to provide a structured clinic and know how many children to expect.

“We are aiming to get six children an hour vaccinated, and so knowing how many families want to participate allows us to schedule for the proper number of afternoons and evenings,” said Nichols.

Nichols added that they are not holding clinics during the day out of respect for families who do not want their children exposed to this experience and to help school nurses focus on day-to-day operations.

The school department is working with Public Health Nursing, coordinated through the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to set up the clinic.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved vaccine shots for children ages 5-11 on Nov. 2.

As of December 1, 323,636 children aged 5-11 are fully vaccinated across the country, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Dec. 1, 29,594 children ages 5-11 and 157,439 children ages 12-19 are fully vaccinated in Maine. While 27,416 children ages 5-11 received their first dose of vaccination, 2,178 children got their second dose, according to the Maine COVID-19 vaccination dashboard.

Cumberland County recorded the highest vaccination rate with 10,806 children ages 5-11 fully vaccinated so far, Androscoggin County has 1,698 children vaccinated and Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties have 930 and 918 children fully vaccinated, respectively.

The Lisbon School Department staff who have not received their vaccination and wish to can also get themselves vaccinated at the clinic.

The first doses of the vaccine will be given from 3-7 p.m., on Jan. 6-7, with second doses administered on Jan. 27 and 28.