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NATIONAL CITY, Calif. – The push is on to get high schoolers vaccinated in San Diego County.

“I keep telling my kids to trust the science,” said Dr. Araceli Vaca, a teacher in National City.

“I’m not sure how the students think about it, but I would guess they want to be around each other,” said Kevin Andres, a senior at Sweetwater High School.

Sweetwater is the first school in the county to have vaccines brought directly to students. Five hundred doses were made available to students on Thursday.

Andres was one of the first to sign up, but he knows some will be reluctant. In fact, his own mom and brother are. However, after his grandmother passed away from COVID-19, he said he was compelled.

“By getting it, I want to show them it will be okay,” he said. “I trust the science.”

County Chair Nathan Fletcher said this week that the county is now pushing to get people 16 and up vaccinated.

About 110 kids in grades K-12 contracted the virus locally in the past two weeks, and despite the fact that people 16 and up are now eligible to get vaccinated, the county says only 3.2% of people ages 16-19 have had one.

“Numbers are low,” Fletcher acknowledged. “We are doing a series of things to increase those numbers and we suspect they will climb but it’s something we are working on and focused on.”