Mercy Hospital will host a COVID-19 vaccine clinic this weekend for young Maine kids.
In this June 23, 2022, file photo, Jesse Cinquegrano holds her 19-month-old son Wilder Lynch, while her other son, Bastian Lynch, 3, shows off his post-shot bandage, at a walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Sanford. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN

A Portland hospital will host a COVID-19 vaccine clinic for young Maine kids this weekend.

Northern Light Mercy Hospital will be administering Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 6 months to 5 years old 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, according to Northern Light Health.

The clinic will be located at the hospital’s outpatient specialty and surgery center at the Fore River Parkway campus.

A second clinic will be held 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 20.

That comes a little more than a month after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the greenlight for young kids to receive a jab, the last demographic to be cleared for vaccination against COVID-19.

As of this week, about half of Maine kids under age 5 who have been vaccinated against the virus live in Cumberland County, where just 12 percent of its 14,000 young kids have received a dose.