HOUSTON — Seeing her mother suffer from COVID prompted a Houston teen to get the vaccine Friday.
Sam Houston Math, Science at Technology Center High School had a fall break on Friday. But 10th grader Francesca Mendez showed up anyway.
“I thought it was going to hurt but it wasn’t that bad,” Mendez said.
She came to get her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“My mom has gotten sick and I don’t want to have to, like, carry it and I want to be more careful with myself,” Mendez said.
The vaccination event held in conjunction with United Memorial Medical Center aimed to immunize students 12 and up and their families.
It offering a raffle and other prizes in return.
But Mendez just needed seeing what happened to her mom.
"It was really bad," Mendez said. "She got like really sick and she wasn’t home for a while. And I didn’t want that to happen again and me to go through that.”
Houston ISD trustee Elizabeth Santos, a product of Sam Houston High, has beaten the bushes to try and get people vaccinated.
She told us she fights, among other things, fears among undocumented residents.
"And I know there’s some skepticism and reluctance or communities of color are not always the most trusting of 'the system,' right?” Santos said.
Parent Yolanda Hernandez's 16 year-old son doesn't want the vaccination despite the death of his own half-brother.
"He doesn’t want to take it,” Hernandez said. "We told him his half brother died of COVID and he still doesn’t want to take it. He says no.”
Districts all over the Houston area continue to make vaccinations available through various events and, in many cases, educating along with immunizing.
"I mean, I’d just say get it just in case," Mendez said. "And if it does hit you, at least it’s not going to be as bad, and it’s less of a chance to spread it.”
We got updated statewide COVID numbers Friday from Texas DSHS.
So far this school year, 126,687 students have tested positive out of more than 5.3 million students.
That means 2.4 percent of Texas students have gotten COVID so far.
Keep in mind: the data is primarily based on self-reported cases.