COVID-19 vaccine rates are lagging for young children
As public health experts patiently wait for new COVID-19 cases to wane, they’re hoping to see a different metric begin to rise: pediatric COVID-19 vaccine rates.
Nearly three months after children ages 5 to 11 became the youngest eligible age group to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, their vaccination rates are significantly lagging behind other age groups, both in Ohio and nationally.
As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nearly 18% of children ages 5 to 11 nationwide were fully vaccinated against the virus and 27% had received at least one dose. About 54% of U.S. children ages 12 to 17, however, are fully vaccinated and nearly 65% have at least one dose.
While some states like Vermont are exceeding the national average with 48% of its youth fully vaccinated, others are far behind –– such as Mississippi with only 6%.
Ohio is on par with the national average, with about 16% of children ages 5 to 11 being fully vaccinated and about 22% with at least one dose,
according to the state health department. About 42% of Ohio kids ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated.
Lagging vaccination rates for young children is raising alarms for pediatric health experts.
Part of the concern is because of the highly transmissible omicron variant, said Dr. Sara Bode, a primary care pediatrician and medical director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Care Connection School-based Health and Mobile Clinics.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, 28,969 children under the age of 18 in the state have reported being sick with COVID-19 this month (about 16% of all cases) and 91 children have been hospitalized.
Bode said of those children hospitalized, 99% of them were children from unvaccinated households.
“As we’ve seen more and more older people getting (COVID-19), more kids are getting sick, too,” Bode said.
There are a number of factors impacting the low number of young children getting vaccinated.
Hesitancy among parents, Bode said, is one of the greatest hinderances.
Bode said she’s noticed that parents of younger children are more hesitant to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 than parents of teenagers. Parents have more questions about the vaccine’s dosage, potential side effects of the shot, and how they might affect children’s development.
“There’s an extra level of hesitation there,” she said.
That hesitancy, coupled with a “plague of misinformation” related to COVID-19, can make it difficult for parents to know what good information is out there about the vaccines, Bode said.
Often parents may be hesitant to vaccinate their child because of false claims about side effects like infertility or fears about children having more severe reactions, said Melissa Arnold, chief executive officer of the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Misinformation about MRNA vaccines, the type of vaccine used to inoculate people against COVID-19, and false rumors about “new” or “untested” technology could also put parents off, she said.
“For the past 30 years, the technology around MRNA vaccines has been being tested,” Arnold said. “This just happened to be the first time we rolled it out widespread.”
There’s also the false perception that children cannot become seriously ill from COVID-19, Arnold said.
Although far fewer children are being hospitalized for COVID-19 than adults, Bode said, there is still a risk of serious illness, especially among immunocompromised kids.
With so much emphasis on protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly and the perception that young people will not become seriously ill or suffer from long-term effects of COVID-19, Arnold said vaccinating children may not be prioritized. Though chances of mortality might be low for children, severe complications are always possible, Arnold said, especially if a child is not vaccinated.
“It’s important to remember there are kids who have died from COVID,” Arnold said. “And there are many of them right now in children’s hospitals, having to stay there because they are very sick.”
The lack of well-child visits and checkups might also point toward lower vaccination rates, Arnold said,
Sick or injured children take priority over healthy children needing checkups in doctor’s offices, Arnold said, especially when patient capacity and staff availability are reduced due to the pandemic.
Even if parents of healthy children are able to schedule a visit with a pediatrician, Arnold said many doctors’ offices do not offer COVID-19 vaccinations. This may be because of uncertainty among pediatricians about last year’s rollout dates for younger children and how many other organizations are providing the vaccine, Arnold said.
Bode said getting more kids vaccinated is vital, especially if communities want to keep schools open and in-person.
“It’s critical to maintain in-person learning,” she said of vaccinating children. “If we get too many students that aren’t protected, there will be prolonged absences for students and staff, which could send schools online. No one wants that.”
Vaccines are the best defense to keep schools open, Bode said.
But it’s not just COVID-19 vaccines that are crucial right now.
The pandemic caused many families to push off their children’s checkups last year, which threw routine vaccine schedules out of whack for some.
Bode said she saw a 10% drop in routine vaccinations in 2020. “That might not sound like a lot,” she said, “but that’s enough to affect herd immunity. It’s enough to cause a measles outbreak in schools.”
Bode and Arnold agreed that two things will greatly help increase the number of fully vaccinated kids: increased access to the vaccines and factbased information about them.
Messaging about COVID-19 vaccines can’t be one and done, Bode said. It will require a “grassroots, ongoing effort,” supported by trusted local school officials and faith leaders to spread the word, she said.
Though some doctors might not offer the vaccine at their practices, they can always provide accurate information about health and safety for children and refer parents to other vaccination clinics in their community, Arnold said.
These conversations might combat COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, which also contributes to low vaccination rates among children, she said.
“Whether or not some of them aren’t able to provide the vaccine on-site, they’re at least educating their patients about how it is so important for them to go ahead and make sure that they’re getting the vaccine,” Arnold said.
Bode said school-based vaccine clinics are extremely helpful in getting the shot to more kids. Nationwide Children’s Hospital vaccinated nearly 2,500 Columbus City Schools’ elementary students the week before winter break, and those children have just received their second doses..
Busy families and working parents need to be met where they are by health care and vaccine providers, Arnold said. Convenient opportunities outside of a nine-to-five workday near schools, libraries or other locations easily incorporated into daily life might improve vaccination rates for young children, she said.
“The stress on families means that this sometimes falls through the cracks if they’re not thinking it’s the utmost importance,” Arnold said. shendrix@dispatch.com @sheridan120 awright1@gannett.com @aubreymwright