After FDA, CDC approval, doctors urge parents to immunize kids ages 5-11 against COVID-19
Scavenger hunts and blow-up animals greeted children at some of California’s vaccination sites Wednesday as children aged 5 to 11 got their first COVID-19 shots a day after the federal government approved kid-size doses of the vaccinations.
As part of an ambitious plan to offer coronavirus vaccinations to California’s 3.5 million children in that age group, the state intends to offer the vaccines at locations including school clinics, pharmacies, pediatrician offices and county sites, many of which will launch in the coming days. Health officials said they are expecting 1.2 million initial doses of the pediatric vaccine.
Kaiser Permanente physicians said Wednesday that they expect to have enough supply and enough staff to vaccinate all children ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19 before the end of the year.
Dr. Nicola Klein, a research scientist and mother who leads the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, said scientists have more experience with the COVID-19 vaccine than they have had with any other vaccine given to children for the first time.
“The COVID-19 clinical trial has enrolled 3,000 children ages 5 to 11,” Klein said, “and the side effects were really very similar to what we’ve seen in adults — some fatigue and some muscle aches, headaches, mostly mild and really very short-lived. There were no related serious adverse events in the trial.
“It’s shown to be very safe in these children. I think the thing to think about with these vaccines is that we have given hundreds of millions of doses of this vaccine amongst populations globally.”
As of Tuesday, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds. Tweens and teens got the go-ahead months ago.
California has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country and also some of the strictest masking and vaccination requirements, but new cases and hospitalizations have plateaued recently after a steady two-month decline that saw California boast the nation’s lowest infection rate. State models show a gradual increase in hospitalizations in the next month as colder weather and holidays drive people inside.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last month that California would have the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren — about 6.7 million public and private school students in the nation’s most populous state — once the federal government has given final approval for the shots. The mandate will be phased in and will likely not take full effect until next July.
Newsom hailed the new availability Wednesday, saying the pandemic “has taken a heavy toll on the well-being of our kids.”
Over the last two years, children have not been able to attend school on a regular basis, enjoy play dates with friends, visit family or participate in other extracurricular activities that are important to their social and emotional development, said Dr. Keedra McNeill, a mother of two girls and a pediatrician in Kaiser Permanente’s Napa Solano region.
“Even though we were able to start kind of easing them back into (those activities) once we had vaccines available for adults, parents and caregivers, there was always still kind of that little kernel of doubt in the back of parents’ minds, like ‘OK, what happens if my child actually does become exposed to someone with COVID-19 at school or ... during a play date or during some other type of activity?’” McNeill said. “Now parents can kind of take a collective sigh of relief.”
McNeill said she and her husband did just that upon hearing about the FDA approval Tuesday night, and they plan to sign up their girls, ages 6 and 8, to get the shots as soon as possible.
“I would not advocate or recommend something for my own patients or for anyone else’s patients that I would not do myself as a mother for my own children,” McNeill said.
Santa Clara County starting doling out shots early Wednesday, and appointments quickly booked up. The county expects to receive about 55,000 doses this week and will open additional clinics at 80 school sites and send out mobile vaccine teams to low-income neighborhoods.
“This is an important step in protecting our children and our community, providing relief for families, and creating an additional level of protection to maintain in-person learning for our schools,” Santa Clara Health Officer Sara Cody said in a statement. Many of Santa Clara’s county sites were decorated with kid-friendly motifs like animals and included games like scavenger hunts, while others handed out coloring books and prizes, officials said.
Pop-up clinics in Los Angeles County also started giving doses to children on Wednesday, the county department of health said. The county is the nation’s most populous with 10 million residents, including about 900,000 children between 5 and 11 years old.
In the capital region, doctors said Kaiser would begin scheduling appointments Thursday and they expect to get a supply of the child-size doses in time to begin vaccinating on Monday. All around the region, other health care providers have joined Kaiser in announcing they will begin COVID-19 immunizations for children.
CVS Health said 266 of its California stores are now accepting appointments for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 pediatric vaccine, and it will start giving shots as early as Sunday. UC Davis Health and Sacramento County said they would start scheduling Thursday for appointments next week.
Nationally, pediatric virologists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., noted that their center had been a study site for the vaccine with more than 2,200 children ages 5-11 participating. They said they would begin administering the vaccine as soon as it’s available and urged parents to take their children in for the shot.
McNeill urged parents to consult with their child’s primary care provider if they have any questions or concerns about the vaccine.
“This is the person who has been working with your family, who knows you who knows your your child and your child’s history the best,” she said. “And of course, they have always had your child’s best interest at heart. And that has not changed now.”
Kaiser does not plan on doing drive-through COVID-19 vaccinations because patients must be observed after receiving their vaccinations, McNeill said, but they do anticipate teaming up with school districts or other organizations for large vaccine sites.
Do not delay getting a child immunized, just because they are close to age 12 and could receive a higher-dose vaccine, McNeill said.
“We do recommend going ahead and starting with the lower dose at age 11, just again to make sure that the children receive that protection as soon as possible,” she said. “Unfortunately, we have seen cases ... in adults where someone books their appointment, and then a few days before their appointment, they actually become infected with COVID-19.”
Californians can access appointments for all state providers at myturn.ca.gov.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 1:15 PM with the headline "After FDA, CDC approval, doctors urge parents to immunize kids ages 5-11 against COVID-19."
