Experts worry these kids don’t have access to COVID-19 shots
Experts worry the lack of data may be obscured which targets immunization strategies for children of color who are critically ill with COVID-19 but may lack access to the shot.
Only one-third of children ages 5 to 11 nationwide have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and a quarter are fully immunized, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. About 67% of children 12 years of age and older received one dose, and only 57% were fully immunized.
But the CDC does not report children’s COVID-19 vaccination rates by race, and inconsistencies and discrepancies remain in how the figures are broken down and reported across states.
Kaiser . Family Foundation report Only seven states are publishing childhood immunization data by race in a way that allows statistical comparison. Among those states, Black children often trail white children, with a different percentage of children from different racial groups.
But overall, “it is still challenging to draw strong conclusions about racial equity in childhood COVID-19 immunization due to the lack of comprehensive data, inconsistent reporting, and the lack of disaggregated data for smaller racial/ethnic groups,” the authors write.
More data is needed to understand which communities need more reach, Rebekah Fenton, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine physician at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.
“Without that information, we could have gotten to this place, where if COVID works well in larger communities, smaller communities like black and brown individuals will just be affected. watching,” she said.
The lack of immunization data for children, Fenton said, could also prevent school districts from making informed decisions about when it’s safe to do face-to-face learning.
“We are making sweeping decisions across these very diverse school districts on policies,” she said. “Assume that identification is safe because of high immunization rates among parents or children that fail to recognize the unique needs of certain communities in particular schools.”
Children of color are more likely to be hospitalized with severe COVID-19.
Of the more than 10,000 children hospitalized with COVID-19, black children and obese children, the proportions are disproportionate occurs in children of color; more likely to have “more serious illness” and rare complication MIS-C or multisystem inflammatory syndrome, recently found study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Without vaccination data, it is difficult for experts to know which high-risk adolescents are unvaccinated and to target. Dr Kara Odom Walker, director of population health for Nemours said: “While parents may be hesitant to vaccinate their children, teenagers who encounter misinformation online may also be wary. and age-appropriate outreach to engage them is essential.
“We have to think about all the partners that can come together to lower barriers and meet minors,” she said. “Reaching them through innovative and creative ways that are age-appropriate and culturally appropriate is extremely important. Having messengers and influencers who can speak to them directly will be part of how we get through this.”
Are children of color vaccinated at the same rate as other children? Experts say fairness is key
Walker, a former secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, pointed to disparities that still exist between vaccination rates for black and white adults, as well as other minorities, according to the latest CDC. data.
Although vaccination rates have closed between white adults and those who are Hispanics, Native Hawaiians, or Pacific Islanders, Asian and American Indians/Alaska Natives, according to CDC, Black adults are still being vaccinated at lower rates. Only 46.6% of blacks received at least one dose, compared with 52.6% of white adults. Only 40% of blacks are fully vaccinated, compared with 47% of whites.
Between white children and children of color, she fears the disparity “may be even wider” than what is seen in adults.
The logistical barriers to vaccination that disproportionately affect families of color and are barriers for parents can also be barriers for children. These include transportation to a clinic that supplies the shots, a lack of a pharmacy in the vicinity, an inability to leave work, or too few government-issued home tests for a multigenerational household.
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Public health strategies to close the flu vaccination gap among children, such as school missions, will help with COVID-19 vaccination, Walker said. A research group by Nemours recently published detect that shows increased absorption of the COVID-19 vaccine after the flu shot.
“We have found and studied certain ways to overcome the persistent disparities in flu vaccination that we will have to use and capitalize on to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccine is delivered,” she said. equitably absorbed. Those include ongoing partnerships with faith-based organizations and trusted community messengers.
While disparities exist and are worrisome, immunization rates among all children are lagging, said Dr Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Stanford University.
“There is still a lot of misinformation in our community. But honestly, we don’t do a good job in any age group over 5 years old,” she said.
She said continuing to send community-level messages highlighting the safety of vaccines and correcting misconceptions that children can’t get very sick from the virus.
“I don’t think people take this illness seriously in children,” she said. And if we can keep them safe, why not keep them safe? ”
Reach Nada Hassanein at [email protected] or on Twitter @nhassanein_.