Youth Commission event at L.M. Park includes vaccine opportunity Saturday

The series of COVID-19 vaccination clinics sponsored by the city of Statesboro with city-purchased $50 gift cards as rewards continues this Saturday, Oct. 9, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., at the Jones-Love Cultural Center in Luetta Moore Park, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. - photo by Associated Press

COVID vaccine — The series of COVID-19 vaccination clinics sponsored by the city of Statesboro with city-purchased $50 gift cards as rewards continues this Saturday, Oct. 9, from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., at the Jones-Love Cultural Center in Luetta Moore Park, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. - photo by Associated Press

COVID-19 vaccinations, available to youth ages 12-17 with parental permission as well as to adults, will be offered Saturday, Aug. 21, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Luetta Moore Park.

The vaccination opportunity is an added feature of the Statesboro Youth Commission’s “Welcome Back to Your Park” event those same hours. The Community Organized Relief Effort, or CORE, will administer the Pfizer vaccine, the only coronavirus vaccine authorized for youth ages 12-17 with parental permission. It requires a second shot, to be scheduled at a later date, to be fully effective.

Parental consent forms can be provided on-site or are available at www.coreresponse.org/covid-19/atlanta-ga.

“In light of the rising COVID numbers in our community, we are excited to be able to serve the youth of Statesboro and their families in this way, while highlighting the wonderful new park renovations,” said Statesboro Youth Commission Co-Chair Kristina Patterson, Ph.D. “We worked with Mayor (Jonathan) McCollar, City Council, the city manager’s office, and community partners such as Squashing the Spread to ensure we were able to serve the community safely.”

The vaccine will be administered inside the Jones-Love Community Center at the park. Luetta Moore Park, at 585 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, reopened earlier this month after extensive renovations that included the addition of a pool, splash pad and bathhouse, new playground equipment and picnic shelters.

“We look forward to welcoming the community to Luetta Moore Park and offering the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Patterson added. “We’ll even have the Georgia Southern University Women’s Basketball Team on site to help distribute masks to the community.”

Other partner organizations helping to support Saturday’s event include Pink Huddle Inc., Youth Career Commission Inc., Statesboro Police Department, Our Girls Rock Too, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Statesboro Fire Department and Tormenta FC & Bolt.

Some will be distributing information about their programs and services for youth.

The city-sponsored Youth Commission is also known as the Statesboro Community Youth Network as it seeks to coordinate the efforts of organizations working with young people.

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