WATERBURY -- If you have a three or a four year old in pre-K, time is running short for you to get them a flu shot.
In Waterbury, where several hundred children are in danger of being kept home from pre-K, if they don't comply with a state law the Department of Health, offered families assistance.
On Friday, in the Office of Early Childhood, was the first of two days over the next month that offer free flu vaccines for pre-K children.
The city is doing it because state law mandates three and four-year-olds wishing to enroll in pre-K, must have received their flu vaccine by December 31st.
"She’s terrified of shots," Joann Torres, of Waterbury, said of her granddaughter, who had tears on her cheeks.
"We try to distract him and talk to them about other things while we are preparing to give them the shot," said Krista Phelan-Wright, a Waterbury pre-k school nurse.
If it’s a child's first year in pre-k, they actually need to receive a second flu shot 28 days after their first.
But, there are exceptions to the pre-k rule, including children with certain medical conditions and religions that don’t permit vaccines.
Waterbury's next pre-k free flu shot day is December 12.