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U.S. states vary on inoculating kids against COVID-19, mostly along party lines -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO A face-mask is worn by a child on the first day in New York City Schools, during the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged Brooklyn, New York (U.S.), September 13-2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Carl O’Donnell

(Reuters) – States with high adult COVID-19 vaccination rates are planning a major push to inoculate children. This could potentially increase gaps in protection nationally, experts and public health officials said.

Friday saw the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve COVID-19 vaccination, which was created by Pfizer Inc (NYSE.) and BioNTechSE (NASDAQ.) have been approved for use by children between 5 and 11 years. They will now be able to distribute approximately 50 million doses of the vaccine to their states. This shot will be approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as soon as possible.

According to Reuters survey, there are more than 20 state officials who were surveyed. The path for inoculating children varies depending on the location.

Ira Loss (a senior healthcare analyst at Washington Analysis), stated that “we’re going be left with an unbalanced situation similar to what we had with adults” and said, “We are going to have a bifurcated scenario where the northeast, West Coast and some Upper Midwest have been vaccinated and the rest of America is at best partially vaccinated.”  

Washington, New York, California and New York are being led by Democratic governors. These states have all launched high-volume vaccine clinics for children, as well as mobile sites.

California mandates that children in school receive the COVID-19 vaccine when they turn 18. The measure is currently being studied by New York and Washington.

Republican governors are largely resisting measures like mask mandates or vaccination requirements for schools, work, and other public spaces. Florida and Texas are just two of the more than dozen states that have attempted to stop schools or businesses from setting such restrictions.

Reuters was told by public health officials from some of these states (including South Carolina, Nebraska and Indiana), that they intend to rely upon local healthcare providers for shots.

Arkansas’s public health spokeswoman stated that the department plans to use existing infrastructure rather than host large scale events.

Nebraska has not prepared an advertising campaign to promote children’s COVID-19 vaccination and it is leaving the task of administering shots primarily to local health departments and healthcare providers, a spokesperson told Reuters.

South Carolina’s spokesperson stated that while the state is in constant over-supply of vaccines, there are still enough vaccines to satisfy what the state hopes will be an increased demand.

Although children are not at risk of becoming very ill or even dying due to COVID-19, it is more common among those under age 17. This has been because of an easily transmissible Delta strain of the coronavirus. It now accounts for over 25% of U.S. cases. Children can transmit COVID-19 from their infected parents to others at greater risk for serious illness.

Public health experts believe the most efficient way to ensure that children are vaccinated in a school setting is by making it compulsory, however few states consider this move.

Pamela Zeitlin is chair of Pediatrics at National Jewish Health in Colorado.

However, too many states were “indifferent about this kind of thing,” she stated.

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