Children’s vaccine program off to strong start
Challenges are ahead after initial excitement
WASHINGTON — The campaign to vaccinate elementary school age children in the U.S. is off to a strong start, health officials said Wednesday, but experts say there are signs that it will be difficult to sustain the initial momentum.
About 900,000 kids aged 5 to 11 will have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in their first week of eligibility, the White House said, providing the first glimpse at the pace of the school-aged vaccination campaign.
“We’re off to a very strong start,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients, during a briefing with reporters.
Final clearance for the shots was granted by federal regulators on
Nov. 2, with the first doses to kids beginning in some locations the following day.
The estimated increase in vaccinations in elementary school age children appears similar to a jump seen in May, when adolescents ages 12 to 15 became eligible for shots.
Now nearly 20,000 pharmacies, clinics and physicians’ offices are offering the doses to younger kids, and the Biden administration estimates that by the end of Wednesday more than 900,000 of the kid doses will have been given. On top of that, about 700,000 first-shot appointments are scheduled for the coming days.
About 28 million 5 to 11 year-olds are now eligible for the low-dose Pfizer vaccine. Kids who get their first of two shots by the end of next week will be fully vaccinated by Christmas.
The administration is encouraging schools to host vaccine clinics on site to make it even easier for kids to get shots. The White House is also asking schools to share information from “trusted messengers” like doctors and public health officials to combat misinformation around the vaccines.
A initial surge in demand for vaccinations was expected from parents who have been waiting for the chance to protect their younger kids, especially before the holidays.
About 3 percent of newly eligible children in the U.S. got first shots in the first week, but the rate of vaccinations in varied widely around the country, as it has for adult vaccines. In other developments:
■ A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to the enforcement of Texas’ ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in Austin that the ban ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott violated a federal law protecting disabled students’ access to public education.
■ California has begun positioning equipment and locking in contracts with temporary health care workers in preparation for another possible winter surge of coronavirus cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.
■ Colorado plans to expand hospital capacity and staffing amid an ongoing surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations that could surpass a record high for the state set in 2020, Gov. Jared Polis told a pandemic task force Wednesday.
■ Hospitals in northwestern New Mexico were grappling Wednesday with a surge in coronavirus cases that has led to a rationing of care.
■ The Navajo Nation on Wednesday reported 126 more COVID-19 cases and eight additional deaths. The tribe had gone without reporting a coronavirus-related death 25 times in the previous 40 days before reporting one on Tuesday.
■ COVID-19 hospitalizations have reached their highest level of the year in Minnesota and hospital capacity continues to tighten throughout the state amid an alarming surge in cases, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Wednesday.