Las Virgenes Superintendent And Daughter Take Trial COVID Vaccine

CALABASAS, CA —Kearston Stepenosky, captain of the Calabasas girls' basketball team and daughter of Las Virgenes Unified Superintendent Dan Stepenosky, recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times about her experiences participating in a trial Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine alongside her father. The FDA approved the vaccine earlier this month.

Kearston took the vaccine when it was still in October after months of lobbying her parents, telling The Times she wanted "to do whatever I could to be that one little tiny statistic that helps us get back to school and get back to basketball.”

Her parents were initially skeptical, wondering if she should risk her high-powered school career during an important academic year. But eventually they came on board after consulting with doctors, and Kearston took the vaccine at 10 a.m. one October morning. She began experiencing side effects later that afternoon, and for five days, she reported headaches and chills, but no fever.

After receiving a second shot three weeks later, the side effects lasted one day, and disappeared.

"I have absolutely no regrets,” Kearston told The Times. “I’m incredibly grateful. Even if I had minor side effects, it’s better than having COVID and endangering my family. It’s very hectic right now and very sad, but at same time it’s a really hopeful time. I have a lot of hope in this vaccine."

At the same time, her father, who is a survivor of colon cancer, applied to take the trial vaccine on Aug. 31. Dan said he was surprised to be selected because of his history, but also said he was anxious to help in whatever way he could. As the superintendent of the first public school district in Los Angeles County to begin letting some of its students back onto campus, Stepenosky said he wanted to take the vaccine to help build public confidence in it.

Dan reported some mild on-and-off aches in the weeks after getting the shot, but nothing like what his daughter experienced.

Both father and daughter are now feeling fine, and living their life as usual, aside from going back in for occasional blood tests to see whether they are building antigens. Kearston continues to work out, while Dan said he's out and about.

"They don't want someone who's gonna stay home and be isolated," he told The Times. "It won't be any good if you don't get out, if you quarantine yourself."