By Patrick McArdle
RUTLAND HERALD
Five weeks after expanding their vaccination efforts to include children aged 5 to 11, health care officials are seeing a slightly slower uptake than what was seen with teens but 44 percent have gotten at least one shot as of Friday, according to Kelly Dougherty, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health.
The goal is to have 80 percent of Vermont’s children vaccinated.
The state has hosted vaccination clinics for children at settings such as local schools but Dougherty said kids have also gotten their shots at the office of the child’s pediatrician or pharmacies or nonstate clinics. Dougherty said most of those who have been vaccinated have gotten them at one of the state clinics, however.
“We are really trying to get the word out,” she said.
For scheduling future clinics, Dougherty said staff at the health department has learned that parents are often not available during the day.
“We are definitely working on more evening and weekend opportunities so that parents who are working during the day can get their kids to be vaccinated because, particularly with younger kids, you want to be there with them,” she said.
Clinics that had taken place had been school-located and not school-based which meant they were taking place at the site of a school but not tied to the school and its students. As a result, parents eager to get their kids vaccinated were taking up spots at a particular school whether the kids were students there or not.
That had been the idea, to have clinics open to any Vermont kids, but Dougherty said they had found it was “difficult (because) the students who actually went to that school maybe weren’t able to attend their own clinics.”
Adding more clinics to serve students from other parts of Vermont as well as opening slots for the kids whose school was hosting a clinic seems to have addressed the issue, according to Dougherty.
Dougherty said one challenge that has not continued has been the availability of the specialized vaccine doses for children.
On its website, the health department describes the difference between the shot kids 5 to 11 can get.
“Children 5 to 11 will receive the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The dose is specially made for this age group — one-third the size of the dose for people 12 and older. This provides enough protection with the least potential for side effects. Just like adolescents and adults, children will receive two doses of the vaccine given three weeks apart,” the description said.
While Dougherty said the supply was a little uneven at first, as it had been for the vaccines for adults when it was first available, the health department is now in regular touch with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the access to the vaccine is stable.
“That’s not a concern at this point,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty said officials at the health department had noticed that younger children were, for now, getting vaccinated at a slower rate than older kids during the first five weeks it became available to them. She noted the 5 to 11 group is “definitely a different animal,” than the 12 to 17 group and said it’s possible that indicates some hesitancy among parents.
As outreach, the health department has started the “#LittleArms” campaign, which can be seen online.
The campaign includes information for parents who want to learn more about vaccinations for kids and why health care providers believe they are safe and effective. There are also suggestions for talking to kids about why they are being asked to get the shot and what they can expect when it happens.
By email, Ben Truman, a spokesman for the health department, said state health care workers had learned during the pandemic that “their children’s health and safety is the highest priority for parents and caregivers.”
“The Health Department works with families in all stages of children’s lives, and understand that the decision to vaccinate a child can involve special considerations. We know that many parents and caregivers have questions. #LittleArms and the dedicated web site Healthvermont.gov/KidsVaccine is here to make it easy for people to get the information they need to make an educated decision about the new vaccine for young children,” he said.
Truman said LittleArms would also use social media and advertising to reach families and encourage them to consider vaccination.
Dougherty encouraged parents and other family members of children to talk to a pediatrician or health care provider they trust for answers about vaccinations. She encouraged parents to be active about vaccinations especially at a time when holiday gatherings or mutations, like the omicron variant of COVID, raise the possibility the virus will see future surges of spread.
More information about the Little Arms campaign, which includes information about the dates and locations of upcoming vaccination clinics, can be found at tinyurl.com/3x4tk6f8 online.
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