OSWEGO COUNTY – After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered the age of vaccination for COVID-19 to 12 for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Kinney Drugs began to offer a “comfort vaccination experience,” for anyone eligible to take the vaccine.
The experience comes with less pain in part due to an exclusive partnership with Pain Care Labs and their product, Buzzy. Buzzy is a cartoon-looking bumble bee that numbs vaccination sites, lessening the overall pain and discomfort of injections.
“It vibrates, it buzzes, and there is also an ice pack attached to it,” the director of patient outcomes for Kinney Drugs, Dr. Shannon Miller said. “You apply the Buzzy above the injection site, so between your brain and the injection site, and it disrupts the nerve and almost makes for a pain free shot in addition to the ice numbs the area.”
According to Miller, Kinney has used the Buzzy for several years, since children could receive flu shots. Since then, the Buzzy has been met with “a lot of success,” the main reason for expanding it to the COVID-19 shot, Miller said. When used with flu shots, the Buzzy disrupts pain transmission by “confusing the body’s nerves” with the vibrations and cold sensation.
Kinney began offering COVID-19 shots with Buzzy on May 13, just one day after the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, endorsed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those aged 12 and older. While the Buzzy offers a comfortable vaccination experience, the side effects of the vaccine cannot be mitigated by the product, as it is only used during the actual injection itself. Effects such as arm soreness, swelling or overall muscle aches may still be experienced.
According to the CDC, some children can get “severely ill and require hospitalization” when exposed to and getting COVID-19. While it is rare, Walensky wrote in her endorsement that the U.S. population must do its part to help the vaccine.
“We must do our critical part,” Walensky said. “That means vaccinating as many people as possible who are eligible.”
Both Walensky and Miller expressed that concerned parents should reach out to trusted sources of information to answer questions regarding the vaccine for adolescents.
“I would encourage parents that if they have specific questions to talk to healthcare professionals like their child pediatrician, like their pharmacist,” Miller said. “At Kinney, we are happy to answer those types of questions. Be careful of where you are getting your information from, stick to trusted sources on the internet and when in doubt always ask.”
