County aims to protect teens

Vaccination efforts focus on high school students

The race is on to vaccinate eligible high schoolers against coronavirus.

Albany County officials said Monday that they are due to receive a shipment of over 3,500 Pfizer vaccines this week and will be earmarking “a large percentage” of them for 16- and 17-year-olds, who became eligible for the shot last week so long as they have a parent’s permission.

Other area vaccine providers are also anticipating Pfizer shipments — the only coronavirus vaccine currently authorized for those under 18 — and will be hosting in-school vaccination clinics for interested school districts this week.

As efforts to vaccinate the younger population ramp up, area health officials are urging parents who may be hesitant about getting their child vaccinated to trust the

science.

“I know I speak here as health commissioner when I say that this vaccine is safe and effective,” Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen said Monday. “But I will also speak as a mother of three children. … I will ensure that all three of my children are vaccinated and I do this because I believe in the safety of the vaccine.”

The local vaccination effort is unfolding as New York state eases reopening restrictions on schools to allow students to sit closer together.

Whalen, whose children range in age from 16 to 20, said she herself has received the vaccine and so have many of her family members.

“So I want to put that out there to parents just so you know that it is something that I feel comfortable vaccinating my own children. … I encourage this as a way to stop the pandemic,” she said. “It really is the best way that we can move forward.”

Over 400 students showed up to a vaccination clinic at Bethlehem High School this weekend. County Executive Dan Mccoy said it was the county’s first high school vaccination clinic, conducted in partnership with Crestwood Pharmacy of Albany, which supplied the doses.

“It was a huge success,” he said.

The county is already in discussions with Albany and North Colonie school districts to conduct similar clinics this week, he said. Exact dates and times will be announced later this week, he said.

Whitney Young Health, a federally qualified health center in Albany that runs several inschool health centers, will be hosting an in-school vaccination clinic for Watervliet High School students this Wednesday.

“This is amazing news for our high school students and their families,” said Lori Caplan, superintendent of Watervliet schools. “With the recent spike in COVID infections in our region and around the state, I am grateful to our partner Whitney Young Health for scheduling one of the first vaccination clinics for this age group right here in our high school.”

Caplan encouraged families to sign up children who are eligible.

“I recommend that any and all students who are eligible take advantage of this opportunity to not only help protect their own health, but also to prevent passing the virus on to their family, their friends, or other loved ones who may have health conditions that put them at greater risk of infection,” she said.

Pfizer and Biontech, the German company that partnered with them to make a coronavirus vaccine, are currently seeking permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand eligibility for their vaccine to children as young as 12. The companies say their vaccine was found to be safe and effective on children age 12 to 15 during a clinical trial.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have recently launched clinical trials to test their vaccines on children as young as 6 months old. Public health experts say vaccinating children will be key in helping the U.S. reach its goal of herd immunity.