Fewer NWI kids receiving COVID vaccines
Many Northwest Indiana parents are apparently skeptical about vaccinating their children against COVID-19, according to recent statistics supplied by local economist Micah Pollak.
In Lake County, 22% of children ages 5-11 were fully vaccinated and in Porter County, 26% were vaccinated.
In the 12-15 age group, 46% of Lake County children were fully vaccinated and 50% were in Porter County.
Some parents expressed reluctance for their children to be vaccinated at a recent immunization clinic at Merrillville High School.
Hailey Kight, 12, of Merrillville received two state-required immunizations. Her mother, Heather Kight, said they would be her daughter’s last required ones until high school.
Hailey didn’t take the COVID-19 vaccination.
“We don’t do the COVID or the flu shot,” her mother said.
Alina Magana, 11, of Merrillville, received a flu shot, and required injections for meningitis and tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis, but didn’t get the optional COVID-19 vaccination.
“I still have concerns,” said her mother, Nelly Rodriguez. “There might be a bad effect on her.”
Brooke Harris, of Merrillville, did let her daughter Khrei, 5, receive the COVID-19 shot. It was her second shot. Harris said she and her husband had already contracted COVID-19 twice.
“I didn’t hesitate for her,” she said of her daughter.
Since February, schools no longer have to report COVID19 cases, nor do contact tracing. In announcing the new rules, state Health Commissioner Kristina Box cited the availability of vaccines and the decline in coronavirus cases.
Since February, however, new omicron strains have evolved and both Lake and Porter counties were listed in the high transmission level category on a state dashboard on Friday. A new omicron vaccine is expected to be available in Northwest Indiana soon.
“It’s out there,” said Connie Rudd, director of Nursing at the Porter County Health Department. “The good thing is it’s not causing people to be hospitalized or causing deaths.”
She said people need to remember it’s a respiratory illness and if they’re sick, just stay home. “Wash your hands and do the common things people kind of forget.”
In Lake Station, Superintendent Thomas Cripliver said students and their families are encouraged to get vaccinated. If parents give permission, Cripliver said the district will transport students to a North Shore clinic in the city.
Tina Foreman, Merrillville schools nursing coordinator, said the district will contact the Lake County Health Department, if a classroom outbreak happens.
Pollak, an Indiana University Northwest economist who does deep dives into COVID-19 data, said schools and the state could provide more transparency on case numbers.
“There is effectively zero reliable data on the number of cases or spread of the virus in schools now,” he said.
“A few schools here and there may informally report cases, but since the state stopped requiring schools to report cases there is no incentive to do so. Unfortunately, all we have now are anecdotal reports.”
He said he’s heard reports of kids and teachers out sick with COVID-19 with districts scrambling to find substitutes.
“I have been advocating for schools to regularly report the absence rate of both students and staff at the school level. I think this is a reasonable request and would give us an idea of the conditions in the school, but so far no district is interested in reporting this.”