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The health officials are pleased with the strong demand for COVID-19 vaccinations for children, and a rise in booster vaccination rates, they said during a San Mateo County Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 7.
Since the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, 38% of eligible children in that age group have received their first shots, Louise Rogers, chief of the San Mateo County Health System, said. It's an auspicious start, considering a recent Kaiser Foundation study found nationally only one-third of parents planned to seek vaccination for their children in the eligible age group, she noted.
Rogers acknowledged the challenges ahead due to the emergence of the omicron variant.
"This is a time when we find ourselves needing resilience and stamina," she said. Rogers emphasized that it's important for everyone who is eligible to be fully vaccinated and to get their boosters.
Rogers said her department is heartened by the initial turnout and hope it will continue to ramp up as more clinics become available. The health department is working in partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Education to establish vaccine sites in 13 school locations, she said.
Dr. Anand Chabra, the county's COVID-19 mass vaccination section chief, said the county would have a fuller picture of vaccination rates for children ages 5-to-11 next week.
The county health department will continue to push for greater public education to help parents understand that the vaccines are safe and necessary, particularly in light of the recent appearance of the omicron variant. Omicron is thought to be more transmissible than previous variants, including the ubiquitous delta strain, but it isn't yet known if it causes more severe infection, Rogers said.
One good bit of news: The level of COVID-19-related hospitalizations in the county has not greatly risen and remains at 10 to 15 patients over the past seven days, she said.
She said that the county is also seeing a high demand for booster shots among people who are already fully vaccinated.
On Dec. 6, the county experienced understaffing for clinics due to the high number of people coming to walk-in clinics, she said. The county is encouraging people to make appointments so that adequate staffing can be lined unprepared. RogersShe said the county needs more help from contracting agencies to meet the rising demand.
So far, overall, 80.4% of all eligible county residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine and 74.6% are fully vaccinated, Chabra said. In comparison, 64% of all Californians are fully vaccinated and 59.9% of all residents nationwide have received full shots, he said.
The county is currently in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "moderate" tier for infections. It has a test-positivity rate of 1.5% overall and a 2% rate for residents in the state's lowest quarter of the Healthy Places Index. The index examines the most vulnerable populations based on economics and access to health care and other disparities.
Rogers said the county doesn't yet have data to show if infection rates are rising due to exposure during the Thanksgiving holiday. She said she does expect that higher numbers will be reflected in the next set of data provided by the state health department.
