More than 30% of Sonoma County’s 12-15-year-olds partly vaccinated

After two weeks of eligibility, more than 30% of Sonoma County’s 12- to 15-year-olds have received their first coronavirus vaccinations, a rate that has county health officials and local medical professionals highly encouraged.

“It’s an unbelievable rush,” said Sutter Health pediatrician Brian Prystowski.

But it isn’t enough to satisfy the California Department of Public Health, which has set a goal of a 70% statewide vaccination rate in order to fully reopen schools this fall, according to Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Steve Herrington. And it may not be enough to chase away a frustratingly persistent virus.

“Schools will be open in the fall, and will be in person as long as we can keep out of a surge,” Herrington said. “If a surge goes into effect, then all the requirements and restrictions come back. That’s why it’s imperative we get students vaccinated, so we can create the safest environment for full instruction.”

At least 87% of the county’s school employees are now vaccinated, Herrington said, a figure that includes not only teachers but support staff such as office personnel, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and cleaning crews. Most families seem to want similar protection for their children. As of Thursday, according to county data, 30.6% of Sonoma County children aged 12-15 have received one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, the only vaccine yet authorized by the FDA for use in that age range.

Yet the Sonoma County Office of Education anticipates pockets of resistance, just as there have been among other demographics.

Some of that hesitancy likely has to do with safety concerns. In creating its COVID vaccine, Pfizer benefited from years of global research into vaccines for viruses like SARS and MERS, which are genetically similar to the novel coronavirus. But the process left an outward impression of hurried development that worries some potential recipients.

Health professionals have consistently stated that Pfizer-BioNTech and its competing formulas — in this country, from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — are clearly safe, for children as well as adults, citing overwhelming supportive evidence.

For Prystowski and other doctors, the apples-to-apples comparison everyone should be looking at is this: While it’s true that we don’t yet know the long-term effects of the COVID vaccines on young people, early signs are highly positive. Meanwhile, we do know, in painful detail, the effects of the coronavirus.

The casualties include an estimated 7 million deaths globally, as many as 900,000 in the United States and, officially, 315 in Sonoma County. While a tiny fraction of those deaths have hit children 15 and younger, kids in that age range can to transmit the virus to more vulnerable family members and neighbors.

And children are not immune to severe outcomes of their own.

The U.S. has recorded more than 3 million COVID-19 cases among the 12-15 age range, with more than 16,000 hospitalizations and 316 deaths, said Dr. Urmila Shende, Sonoma County’s vaccine chief. That’s more hospitalizations than the country recorded during the H1N1 flu outbreak of 2009, “which was a really bad flu year,” Shende said.

She also noted a related condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, that can affect coronavirus-positive children. According to Shende, 60%-70% of those cases end up in intensive care. There were “a few” cases in this county, the vaccine chief said.

One of those involved a Sebastopol family who last year shared with The Press Democrat the experience of their afflicted toddler, who spent nine days in an Oakland pediatric intensive care unit for treatment of MIS-C.

For many working families, though, reluctance to get vaccinated is a product not of fear but of simple time management. Parents holding down multiple jobs can’t always find opportunities to spend 30 minutes at a clinic. Some don’t have reliable transportation or internet access, and may not be clear on how to get questions answered.

So one of the primary strategies of county health and education officials has been to make vaccination clinics more convenient. The best way to do that, they say, is to put the clinics in schools, a trusted setting for families.

The county education office, Safeway and the county’s public health department are teaming up to arrange several campus-based vaccination clinics. There was one at Sonoma Valley High School on Wednesday, and another at McDowell Elementary School in Petaluma on Thursday. On Tuesday, Safeway will be at Lawrence Jones Middle School in Rohnert Park. The county is also partnering with Curative for a clinic at Elsie Allen High School on Saturday.

Each clinic is designed to vaccinate 200 people or more. Safeway administered 164 shots in Sonoma on Wednesday. All family members are eligible to receive doses, and English/Spanish translation is available.

If the virus is the stick threatening the health of communities, the promise of open campuses and safe social interaction is the carrot.

Shende counted off several activities that might be preserved by high vaccination rates, including travel, movies, sleepovers and graduation parties. “Singing,” the pediatrician added, her voice full of hope. “Simple things like singing are possible again when people are vaccinated and healthy.”

Add youth sports, another pillar of family life.

“For parents with children involved in sports, understand one thing: If they are on a team and there is an outbreak, they still get to participate,” Herrington said. “Because they don’t have to be isolated. So we want to encourage all youths in summer camps and summer sports leagues to get vaccinated.”

Because the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized, but not yet fully approved by the FDA for kids in the 12-15 age range, the state of California cannot require students to be vaccinated as a prerequisite to attending class.

“We talked about whether the state will mandate that once it goes through the formal clearance process,” Herrington said. “I don’t know. That’s at least a year and a half away.”

Mask mandates remain in place, at least for now. The state is expected to issue new school safety guidelines in July, Herrington said, and may ease current restrictions then.

Sonoma County announced Friday that 70% of the county’s 434,000 residents age 12 and older have now received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine. That includes 252,478 residents, or 58% of the eligible population, who are fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Skinny_Post.