Starting this weekend, kids as young as 5 will be getting COVID-19 vaccines at major Hudson Valley pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS.

Parents of 5 to 11-year-olds are not wasting anytime signing up their kids to get a shot. Nearly all appointments at both major chains have been filled already!

A CVS spokesperson tells News 12 as vaccine allocation increases, additional locations will be added.

Walgreens will begin administering pediatric doses on Saturday while CVS says it will start administering the first shots to kids on Sunday.

Right now, children cannot get vaccinated at the Westchester County Center or Westchester Department of Health, but appointments will be available through the Rockland Department of Health.

New York City will start distributing Rockland-based Pfizer's COVID-19 shot at all city-run vaccination sites. Schools in New York City will also offer students vaccinations for at least one day starting Nov. 8.

News 12 spoke to a pediatrician to get expertise on why it's necessary for kids to get the vaccine. "There are children who've died of COVID-19. The vaccine isn't necessarily just to prevent serious consequence, but it's also there because every new person who gets this infection, is a chance for one to spread to someone else and two, for that spread to be something different than this one. Meaning, a new variant," says Dr. Daniel Cohen, pediatrician at WestMed.

Kids will be getting a 10 microgram dose of the COVID-19 vaccine compared to the 30 micrograms that adults get. Health experts say 10 micrograms is enough to give kids a good immune response and lessen the number of side effects.

"I have kids myself so I kind of want to wait and see, the outcome of it, but I'm open to it as well," says parent Eddillice Gonzalez. "I don't have children, but I do firmly believe that they need to have a vaccine, to make it safe for everyone," says Joan Westbrook, of Yonkers.

President Joe Biden says COVID-19 shots for kids will help speed up the pandemic's end in the U.S. According to the CDC, 28 million kids in the U.S. are now eligible for the vaccine.