Video: How do child COVID-19 vaccination rates in Massachusetts compare to rest of country?
Updated: 10:50 AM EDT Apr 2, 2022
THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. >>URSDAY INTO FRIDAY. CHILDREN AGES FIVE TO 11 HAVE THE LOWEST VACCINATION RATES FOR ANY AGE GROUP THAT’S ELIGIBLE FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE. >> HERE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS IS DR. VANDANA MADHAVAN, CLINICAL DIRECTOR OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE AT MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN. DR., THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. WE WANT TO START WITH THE NUMBERS. THE NUMBERS ARE REALLY LOW IN ABOUT HALF OF U.S. COUNTIES, ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH. THAT’S WHERE LESS THAN 10% OF KIDS AGE 5-TO-11 ARE FULLY VACCATED.IN THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE CDC. HOW DO COUNTIES IN MASSACHUSETTS COMPARE? >> GREAT QUESTION. MASSACHUSETTS, ESPECIALLY COUNTIES IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS, ARE DOING BETTER, WITH RATES OF OVER 70% IN THIS AGE GRO,UP BUT COUNTIES ARE LARGE AND IT IS IMPORTANTOR F FAMILIES TO LOOK AT THEIR RESPECTIVE SCHOOLS, INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITIES, TO SEE WHAT THE VACCINATION RATES ARE BECAUSEF I THEY ARE LOWER THAN TRANSMISSIBILITY WILL BE HIGHER, AND THERE ARE VERY ABILITIES DAN COUNTIES — AND THERE IS VARIABILITY EVEN WITHIN COUNTIES WITH HIGH VACCINATION RATES. >>O D YOU THINK THE PERCEPTION THAT COVID ONLY AFFECTS OLDER PEOPLE AS PART OF THE PROBLEM? >> IT IS. THE MESSAGE HAS BEEN THAT THE OLDEST CITIZENS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE MOSTT A RISK. THE DEATH RATES ARE HIGHER, HOSPITALIZATION RATES, AND THAT IS WHAT HAS GOTTEN ESSPR AND WHAT HAS NOT GOTTEN AS MUCH ATTENTION IS, IF YOU JUST TAKE A LOOKT AYOUNGER KIDS, FIVE TO 11, WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VACCINATION, WHO CAN BE PROTECTED, OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, COVID HAS KILLED MORE CHILDR IENN THAT AGE GROUP THAN ANY OTHER VACCINE PREVENTABLE ILLNSES AND IF THIS WERE JUST AFFECTING KIDS IT WOULD HAVE SO MUCH MORE ATTENTION PAID, BUT BECAUSE IT IS PART OF THE LARGER PICTURE OF THE LARGER DEATH RATE AND AMONG OLDER INDIVIDUALS, IT HAS REALLY BECOME — IT HAS NOT BECOME THE FOCUS OF THE MESSAGE, BU T THIS IS STILL A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS ILLNESS. IT IS LESS DANGEROUS TO CHILDREN THAN TO OLDER ADULTS BUT IT IS STILL MORE DANGEROUS TO CHILDREN THAN ANY OTHER ILLNESS WE HAVE NOW THAT WE CAN PROTECT AGAINST WITH A VACCINE. >> I HAD NOT HEARD THAT STATISTIC BEFORE. WE WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THIS NEW STUDY OUT SUGGESTING THE OMICRON SUBVARIANT .2BA MAY BE A BIGGER THREAT TO UNVACCINATED KIDS THAN PREVIOUS STRAINS. WHAT DO PARENTS NEED TO KNOW? >> PARENTS SHOULD KNOW THAT INFORMATION IS OF COURSE ALWAYS EVOLVING. .2BA, WHICH IS STILL CONSIDERED IN OMICRON VARIANT, SEEMS TO BE MORE TRANSMISSIBLE THAN THE FIRST OMICNRO VARIANT, SO OF COURSE, THERE ARE CHILDREN WHO ARE UNVACCINATED, ESPECIALLY AS MASK MANDATES HA LVEIFTED FROM SCHOOLS, PEOPLE HAVE TRAVELED, YOU KNOW, OVER SPRGIN BREAK, AND APRIL VACATION IS COMING UP HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS, KIDS ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET ,IT AND AS I MENTIONED, KIDS ARE AT LOWER RISK FOR HOSPITALIZATION, SEVERE COMPLICATIONS, BUT THEY ARE STILL AT RISK, AND ALSO FOR LONGER-TERM COMPLICATIONS LIKE MULTISYSTEM INFLAMMATORY SYNDROME AND LONG COVID, SO IT IS NOT A BENIGN ILLNESS IN ALL CASES. >> DR. MADHAVAN, CLINICAL DIRECTOR OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE AT MASS GENERAL HOSP
Advertisement
Video: How do child COVID-19 vaccination rates in Massachusetts compare to rest of country?
Updated: 10:50 AM EDT Apr 2, 2022
Children ages 5 to 11 have the lowest vaccination rate among any age group that is currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Children ages 5 to 11 have the lowest vaccination rate among any age group that is currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Advertisement