Youngsters between the ages of 6 months and 5 years of age lastly turned eligible for COVID-19 vaccination within the U.S. on June 18, after the Director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) advisable their use for this inhabitants, following emergency use authorization granted by the Meals and Drug Administration. We just lately wrote about a number of the points to contemplate in vaccinating younger youngsters, starting from fewer entry factors and extra reticence amongst their mother and father, in comparison with their 5-11 year-old counterparts. Right here, we study the standing of vaccine uptake on this group, one month into their eligibility. Our evaluation is predicated on knowledge obtained from CDC’s Knowledge Tracker on the variety of first COVID-19 doses administered by age as of July 20, 2022 nationally and by jurisdiction (see strategies beneath for extra info). Total, we discover that vaccination has already peaked within the youngest age group, and is way beneath the place 5-11 year-olds (who turned eligible in November of final yr) have been at this level of their eligibility:
- As of July 20, roughly 544,000 youngsters underneath the age of 5 had acquired at the very least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. This represents 2.8% of the roughly 19 million youngsters on this age group. At an identical level of their vaccine roll-out, greater than 5.3 million youngsters ages 5-11 (18.5% of 5-11 year-olds) had acquired their first dose. (See Determine 1).
- Vaccinations peaked amongst these underneath 5 about two-weeks into their eligibility, even earlier than the July 4 vacation. After a fast rise in vaccinations quickly after they turned eligible, the speed of vaccination (as measured by the 7-day rolling common of recent doses administered) peaked at simply over 28,000 on July 1. It then started to lower and was about 13,000 on July 20. (See Determine 2).
- This peak is considerably beneath the place their 5-11 counterparts have been at an identical stage. Whereas vaccinations additionally peaked amongst 5-11 year-olds about two-weeks into their eligibility, they peaked at 271,000 common every day doses; at that time, virtually 2.7 million 5-11 year-olds, or 9.3% of the age group, had acquired their first dose. This compares to about 283,000 youngsters underneath age 5, or 1.4%, at their July 1 peak. (See Determine 1).
- Whereas nonetheless within the early stage, there’s already vital variation by jurisdiction. The best share of youngsters underneath age 5 who’ve acquired their first COVID-19 vaccine dose is in Washington DC (14.4%) adopted by Vermont (10.3%) and Massachusetts (7.2%). The highest 10 states have vaccinated 4.5% or extra of their underneath 5 year-olds with their first dose. The underside 10 states have vaccinated 1% or fewer youngsters underneath age 5; Mississippi has vaccinated the bottom share (0.4%), adopted by Alabama (0.6%). (See Desk 1).
These knowledge counsel that reaching vaccination protection of the youngest age group will probably take a while, could require extra intensive and ongoing efforts, and will lag behind even their barely older friends (even amongst 5-11 year-olds, simply 30% have been totally vaccinated, eight months since they turned eligible; vaccine protection jumps to 60% of 12-17 years-olds and 77% of these 18 and older). This gradual uptake probably displays a spread of things. Along with there being fewer entry factors for these underneath the age of 5, our prior COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor Surveys, fielded earlier than youngsters underneath 5 turned eligible for vaccination, discovered that almost all mother and father have been cautious about getting their younger youngsters vaccinated; soon-to-be launched survey knowledge will present that this warning has continued even after the CDC advisable vaccination for these 6 months and older. In consequence, many mother and father could not encounter a proposal of a vaccine till they go in for a routine go to to a pediatrician sooner or later within the yr. Extra broadly, the sense of COVID-19 as an emergency has diminished among the many public. Nonetheless, the nation is within the midst of one other COVID wave, because of the newest Omicron variant, and whereas youngsters typically fare a lot better than adults in the event that they do get COVID-19, some do get fairly sick, undergo longer-term well being points, and even die from the illness. Vaccination in opposition to COVID-19 is secure and efficient, can defend them from sickness, and decrease disruptions to childcare, camp, college, and different wanted providers.
Nationwide-level knowledge from CDC have been used to calculate the cumulative variety of youngsters underneath 5 who had acquired their first dose, in addition to every day adjustments within the quantity receiving their first dose and the seven-day rolling common of recent doses administered, as of July 20. This dataset was additionally used to calculate comparative knowledge for these ages 5-11 and 12-17. Nationwide-level totals embody knowledge from the 50 states, DC, federal entities, territories, and related jurisdictions. Jurisdictional-level knowledge from CDC have been used to acquire the quantity and share of these underneath 5 who had acquired their first vaccine dose for the 50 states and DC, as of July 20. |