Ohio is preparing to distribute COVID-19 vaccines for the last group of people who have not had access to them – children younger than 5.
That’s roughly 700,000 children that can be added to the state’s vaccination totals. As of this past week, only 63% of Ohioans have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccine.
Young children won’t get adult size doses.
Pfizer doses for this age group will total three doses, with each dose one-tenth of an adult dose. The initial two doses are three weeks apart, and the third dose is given at least two months after the second. Moderna will still be a 2-shot dose, four weeks after the first, with each dose one-fourth of an adult dose.
Some parents have been anxious about their children unable to get such protection from the virus, but on Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration unanimously approved Pfizer and Moderna shots for children younger than ages 5.
Those shots still need one more approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this Saturday. If that happens, vaccines could be available as soon as next week.
The White House has said that millions of doses have been ordered in anticipation of the upcoming approval.
Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said the state has been working with pediatricians to assure that a “very substantial number” signed up to get vaccines, with good geographic coverage across the state.
“We’re going to be very well-supplied,” he said on being able to cover the entire under-age-5 population.
Doses could come in as soon as Monday, he added.
Slow uptake from children
That said, there will be vaccine hesitancy among parents. Less than 1 in 5 U.S. parents of children under 5 plan to vaccinate their child right away, according to May polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. So far, just a quarter of Ohio children ages 5 to 11 and half of children ages 12 to 17 received at least one dose.
“The benefits far outweigh the risks,” Dr. Michael Forbes, chair of the department of pediatrics at Akron Children’s Hospital, said on the vaccine’s safety. “I recommend you talk to your physician what the next step ought to be. We need to prevent what’s preventable.”
Vanderhoff notes that the approval’s timing is convenient, as parents might be bringing their children for checkups ahead of a new school year.
Some parents have held off on the vaccine, with many thinking that since the disease affects younger folks more mildly, it’s not as needed. But Vanderhoff noted that COVID-19 can still affect young children, as there’s been 79,000 COVID-19 cases, 1,500 hospitalizations and 10 deaths in Ohio for this age group.
“We’re still seeing severe COVID,” Forbes said. “We’re not done.”
The burden for rolling out these vaccines could fall more on pediatricians rather than pharmacies, said Vanderhoff, as parents are likely more comfortable with their personal doctors.
“I want to emphasize how important it is for children to stay up to date with all their vaccines,” said Vanderhoff. “Vaccines protect us from communicable, preventable disease.”
Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
