Efforts to vaccinate infants are stalled as Omicron surges

According to January 12, only 27% have received at least one dose two months after Pfizer’s corona vaccine was approved for children aged 5 to 11 years. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.. Only 18 percent, or 5 million children, have both doses.

Preventing children in a fierce battle for staff shortages, outages and safe operations, even though Omicron variants interfere with school education for millions of children and their families Nationwide efforts to inoculate are at a standstill. Vaccination rates vary widely across countries, as shown by KHN analysis of federal data. Almost half of Vermont’s ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated, but less than 10% are both vaccinated, primarily in the nine southern states.

Pediatricians say slow paces and geographic disparities are alarming, especially with a record number of cases and pediatric hospitalizations. School-based vaccine obligations for students that some pediatricians say are needed to significantly increase rates remain virtually non-existent.

To completely cover the coronavirus

“”There are these large bands of vulnerable children attending school, “said Dr. Samia Shah, director of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Exacerbating the problem is that states with low immunization rates are “less likely to require masking, distance, or other nonpartisan public health precautions.”

In Louisiana, 5% of children aged 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, and Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards has listed school immunity needed in the fall because of opposition from state legislators. I added a shot to. Republican. Similar requirements have been added in the District of Columbia and California, where about one in five elementary school students are fully vaccinated. However, these locations are an exception — 15 states have banned the mandatory covid vaccine in schools from kindergarten to high school. National Academy for National Health Policy..

Mandate is one of several “scientifically valid public health strategies,” Shah said. “I think what is ideal. I don’t think we society are willing to do so.”

Demand for vaccines surged in November, boosting initial enthusiasm after injections were approved for young children. However, parents vaccinated younger children at a slower pace than the 12- to 15-year-olds who qualified in May. It took nearly six weeks for one in five young children to get their first shot, but the adolescent reached that milestone in two weeks.

Experts list several factors that delay efforts. Some parents are less likely to vaccinate their children because children are less likely to be hospitalized or die of the virus than adults. False information campaigns have fueled concerns about the immediate and long-term health risks of vaccines. And finding an appointment with a pharmacy or pediatrician was a bear.

“One of the problems we had was this perception that children were not at risk of serious illness from the virus,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Commission. Says. “That is clearly not true.”

Parents need to weigh more threatening to their children: covid virus or vaccine to prevent the virus. Overwhelmingly, research shows that the virus itself poses a greater risk.

Children can develop symptoms of long, debilitating infections and potentially fatal post-infections. Inflammatory state..When New research According to a CDC study, children are significantly at increased risk of developing diabetes in the months following Covid infection. Other respiratory infections, such as influenza, do not carry similar risks.

Catherine Lehmann said she was concerned about myocarditis, a rare but serious side effect that causes inflammation of the heart muscle and is more likely to occur in boys than girls, and because of the risk of the two I considered not vaccination of my son. However, after reading the side effects, she realized that the condition was more likely to result from the virus than from the vaccine.

“I felt I was able to give it to my children safely,” said Lehmann, a Missouri physiotherapist. In Missouri, 20% of young children receive at least one dose.

Recent data From scientific advisors to the CDC, myocarditis is extremely rare in vaccinated patients aged 5 to 11 years, with 12 reported cases identified as of December 19 of the 8.7 million doses. rice field.

The major changes in where children are vaccinated reflect what happened in other age groups. Children are much less likely to be vaccinated in the Deep South, where hesitation, political views and misinformation have slowed adult vaccination rates. Alabama has the lowest vaccination rates for ages 5-11, with 5% fully vaccinated. High adult vaccination rates, such as Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine, have the highest proportion of children.

Even within the state, rates vary dramatically from county to county based on political trends, densities, and access to shots. More than a quarter of children in the populous counties of Illinois around Chicago and Urbana are fully vaccinated, with as much as 38 percent in DuPage County. However, in many of the province’s rural and Republican counties, rates are still below 10 percent. In Maryland, one in four children is fully vaccinated, with more than 40% of the wealthy suburban counties Howard and Montgomery counties being one of the more rural east coasts. It varies from less than 10% along the department.

Nationwide, November KFF poll It was found that 29% of parents aged 5 to 11 definitely do not vaccinate their children, and an additional 7% only vaccinate when needed. The proportions of black, white, and Hispanic parents were similar, but the families were separated by political differences and locations.Only 22 percent Urban parents While 49% of local parents objected, they did not vaccinate their children. Half of Republican parents said they would never vaccinate their children, compared to just 7% of Democrats.

The White House said authorities continue to work with credible groups to build credibility with vaccines and ensure access to shots. “As we saw in adult vaccinations, we are more confident and expect more and more children to be vaccinated over time,” spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement.

Lehmann was enthusiastic about booking a Covid vaccine for his two boys shortly before his second son’s fifth birthday. But their pediatricians didn’t offer them. Attempts to book a time slot with CVS and Walgreens before his son was five years old failed, even if the booking was made after his birthday in late November.

“It wasn’t easy,” she said. She wanted to avoid separate trips for 10 and 5 years old, so she made an appointment at the hospital 30 minutes away.

“I was a little shocked because both of my kids were pediatricians and all vaccinated, which would certainly have been easy,” Lehmann said. “And the kids know those nurses and doctors, so I think it helped not to let strangers do it.”

The Biden administration introduced parents to a retail pharmacy with a vaccine clinic and 122 children’s hospitals. According to the government, more than 35,000 facilities, including pediatricians, federal-qualified health centers and children’s hospitals, have been set up to vaccinate infants nationwide. However, giving the child the corona vaccine presents a disorder that was less pronounced with other vaccinations.

Enrolling a pediatrician in the Covid-19 vaccine program is a challenge due to the application process, dosage requirement reporting, and staffing, said Claire Hannan, Managing Director of the Association of Immunological Controllers. ..

“Many of them are currently understaffed and don’t necessarily have the enormous ability to serve,” she said. In addition, “due to the political environment, it is not so easy to get schools to attend school-based clinics in a particular area.” Health centers, government officials and other groups from the age of five across the country. We have set up more than 9,000 school vaccination sites for 11 year olds.

The CDC’s long-standing program, Vaccines for Children, offers free injections of flu, measles, chickenpox, polio and more.almost 44,000 doctors You are enrolled in a program designed to immunize children who are eligible for Medicaid, uninsured or uninsured, or from indigenous or indigenous communities. Prices vary by state, but more than half of program providers offer Covid Shots.

Pharmacies are frequently used in Illinois, and 25% of ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated.

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, pediatrician and director of public health in Illinois, said that as of January 5, 53% of shots given to infants were taken at pharmacies. 20% occurred in private clinics, 7% in the local health sector, 6% in federal-qualified health centers, and 5% in hospitals.

“We need all the parts of the pie,” Ejike said, to get more children to be vaccinated.

The Levi Jewish Community Center in Birmingham, Alabama, sought to enhance vaccination at parties by offering games and treats, as well as photo booths and DJs, in addition to shots from famous local pharmacies. Brooke Bowles, head of marketing and funding for the center, estimated that about 6 of the 42 people who took it in mid-December were children.

Bowles realized that children were more likely to roll up their sleeves when they emphasized that it was better for their parents to be vaccinated.

“These kids were just great,” she said. In some of these Deep South areas, pre-vaccination groups are facing a tough rise. As of January 12, only 7% of children in Jefferson County had both injections.

The greater benefit is that the pediatrician emphasized to parents at the fence.

“Children are carriers of infectious diseases,” said Dr. Irene Costello, director of outpatient pediatrics at the Boston Medical Center. “They are very tolerant of microbes,” spreading the infection to vulnerable relatives and community members who are more likely to go to the hospital.

78% of adult patients in the hospital receive at least one dose. According to Costello, 39% of children are over 5 years old, and younger children are less than adolescents. “I’m very hesitant and tired of having long conversations with my reluctant family,” she said, especially in the onslaught of false alarms.

Still, she can point out success. The mother, who lost her grandparents to Covid, was nevertheless reluctant to vaccinate her son for the obesity and asthma that Costello had physically seen. After Costello told her that her son’s weight was at high risk of serious illness, the mother eventually vaccinated all four children.

“It felt like a victory for me,” Costello said. “I think her idea was,’Well, he’s a kid. He’ll be fine.’ And I said,” Well, he may be fine, but he may not. ” ..

Methodology of vaccination numbers.

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