Kids’ low vaccination rates a ‘gut punch’
Distrust, misinformation and delays because of the holidays and bad weather have combined to produce what authorities say are alarmingly low COVID-19 vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11.
As of Tuesday, just over 17 percent were fully vaccinated, more than two months after shots became available to the age group. While Vermont is at 48 percent, California is just shy of 19 percent and Mississippi is at only 5 percent.
Vaccinations among the elementary school set surged after the shots were introduced in the fall, but the numbers have crept up slowly since then, and omicron’s explosive spread appears to have had little effect.
The low rates are “very disturbing,” said Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director for the Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “It’s just amazing.”
Parents who hesitate “are taking an enormous risk and continuing to fuel the pandemic,” Murphy said.
Hospitalizations of children under 18 with COVID-19 in the U.S. have climbed to their highest levels on record in the past few weeks. Many have other conditions made worse by COVID-19, though many aren’t sick enough to require intensive care.
The low vaccination rates and rising hospitalizations are “a gut punch, especially when we’ve been working so hard to keep these kids well,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatrician in Overland Park, Kan. In other coronavirus news:
The omicron coronavirus variant will infect “just about everybody” regardless of vaccination status, top U.S. infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said.
But those who have been vaccinated will “very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well,” and avoid hospitalization and death, he added, speaking at a virtual “fireside chat” with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Fauci also said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that the unvaccinated are 20 times likelier to die, 17 times likelier to be hospitalized and 10 times likelier to be infected than the vaccinated.
Chicago teachers backed an agreement dictating COVID-19 safety protocols in the nation’s thirdlargest school district Wednesday, after classes were canceled for five days amid a standoff over remote learning and virus testing.
The agreement will expand COVID-19 testing and create standards to switch schools to remote learning. It also resulted in the district buying KN95 masks for students and teachers, boosting incentives to attract substitute teachers and allowing teachers unpaid leave related to the pandemic.
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that a dedicated stream of 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests will be made available to schools starting this month to ease supply shortages and promote the safe reopening of schools.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offered guidance for when Americans should use tests — which were in short supply as Americans traveled and saw family during the busy holiday season.
“Americans should take a test when they have symptoms that appear to be COVID-19,” she said, including fever, cough, sore throat, respiratory symptoms and muscle aches. She also said they should test after known exposure to the virus, generally five days after being exposed, or earlier as part of testto-stay protocols in schools and workplaces.
In an interview that aired Tuesday night on the conservative One America News Network, former President Donald Trump criticized politicians who refuse to say whether they have received COVID-19 booster shots as “gutless.”
Trump, who was booed last month by supporters after revealing he had gotten a booster shot, has become increasingly vocal in calling out those who have questioned the vaccines’ efficacy and safety. It’s a change in posture for Trump as he eyes another run for the White House and faces potential competition from a long list of possible Republican challengers.
“I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ ” Trump said, appearing to take aim at Florida Gov. Ron Desantis. “... And they, ‘Oh, oh,’ they’re answering it — like in other words, the answer is yes, but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless.”