Now that all states have opened, or announced when they will open, COVID-19 vaccination for residents 16 and older, teens are among the newest groups vying for a chance.
Children tend to have mild cases of COVID-19, although some have become seriously ill and died of the virus, so vaccination can help protect them. Vaccinating younger populations will also be key to achieving herd immunity and limiting the spread of the virus, experts said. Michigan’s recent COVID-19 surge has been fueled in part by outbreaks among school sports teams and a high rate of cases under the ages of 10 to 19, health officials said.
An effort underway in Franklin County, Ohio has helped prioritize high school students and make it as easy as possible to take the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine – the only one currently approved for people as young as 16 years old. as easy as possible.
“It’s very important to think about the fact that teens don’t live on their own. If we focus on the whole community to reduce the rate of COVID so that we can reduce that transmittance, we can’t ignore this young population,” told Dr. Sara Bode, primary care physician and medical director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Care Connection School-Based Health and Mobile Clinics, to ABC News. “We really need to make them an important part of that reach or we’re going to change who gets and passes COVID, even if they’re asymptomatic.”
Last week, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus launched an initiative with the local health department to run teen vaccination clinics in every public school district in Franklin County. Students 16 and older attending a school that works with the hospital can apply to receive the vaccine. They must have written or verbal permission from their caregiver.
On the first day of the program, Wednesday, more than 600 students enrolled for their first dose of Pfizer at Thomas Worthington High School. The program aims to expand to more sites and deliver both doses of the vaccine to between 12,000 and 15,000 students over a six-week period.
“It’s really important to think about these crucial ways we can be creative with it, but it’s not a small business,” said Bode. “Ensuring quality and safety in the way we manage [the vaccine] is definitely an operation. “
Young adults (18-29 years) are more likely to wait for the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. While a preliminary survey of school districts found there was a keen interest in the community for the teen clinics, said Bode, who thinks offering the vaccine from a trusted source such as a school could help overcome any hesitations about vaccines – as well as concerns. make caregivers feel more comfortable if their child receives the injection without them being present.
“Our first school district we went to had an 80% positive response rate that they would like to have their eligible teens vaccinated,” said Bode. “That was really encouraging to us that families are interested in this, and I think they know and understand the importance of giving their teen the opportunity to get the vaccine.”
Many students vaccinated in the first days of the clinic felt lucky to be able to receive the vaccine, which is still limited.
“A lot of my friends and other classmates were absolutely thrilled to have the chance to get vaccinated, and a lot of people I know,” Greta James, 16, a sophomore at Thomas Worthington High School, told ABC News. “The people who couldn’t get it were not yet sixteen and they were really amazed that they couldn’t get it yet.”
Many of the students said they saw getting the vaccine dose as a step closer to returning to a normal life. For James, that includes seeing her family safely over the holidays and playing live theater again.
“This year it was so difficult to film all of our shows, and I would just love to perform in front of a live audience again,” she said. “That is definitely one thing I really miss that COVID has taken from me.”
Lilly McAdams, 16, a senior at Worthington Kilbourne High School, already had an appointment in Springfield, about an hour’s drive, before getting vaccinated last week at nearby Thomas Worthington.
“I know this is something that will really determine social availability in the coming months,” she told ABC News. “And I also have asthma. I’ve had it all my life. It’s gotten better over the years, it still puts me at a little higher risk. So since I got the chance, it felt like a really good idea.”
Once they are fully vaccinated, McAdams said she is looking forward to spending more time with her friends.
“I haven’t been out of school with anyone else in over a year right now,” she said. “I’m also looking forward to really graduating because I know the 2020 class got next to nothing, they didn’t even get a prom. And it looks like my class is getting both things.”
Ella Brown, 17, a senior in Worthington Kilbourne, was one of the first to receive a dose of the vaccine at the clinic on Wednesday.
“I wanted to be able to protect myself and protect other people,” she told ABC News. “It’s the same as what I feel with any other vaccine – if you can protect yourself from getting sick and when you get sick, protect others from getting sick, if you have that luxury, why not take advantage of that?”
The three-sport athlete also said the vaccine will make her feel more comfortable because she’s not always able to wear a mask. Under the state mask mandate, face covers are only required outside the field or the playing field.
After Camden Beatty, 17, received a vaccination dose on Wednesday, Thomas Worthington’s junior said that other classmates who got it the next day asked him how it was going.
“They asked me if it hurt, how long it lasted, how it felt,” he told ABC News. “Knowing it didn’t really affect me might have helped them.”
Beatty hopes that his senior year can return to normal, and that students don’t have to sit 6 feet apart at lunch time or 1 meter apart in class. He also looks forward to seeing his extended family in Ohio more often.
“We don’t do family gatherings like we used to,” he said.
Last week, students walked down the hallways with “I’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19” stickers and posted about them on Instagram, James said. As more students get vaccines, she said she’s more comfortable with being in person.
“We’re still in a pandemic, and it’s so real and very serious,” said James. “I just personally felt that if I go back to school most of the day while everyone is there, my safety is not necessarily guaranteed … Now that many of us have been vaccinated, it is starting to seem a little bit safer now.”
A complete “return to normal” will take some time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that students move away from 1 meter, instead of 6 meters, as long as masks and other mitigating measures are taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Once fully vaccinated, medical experts recommend that people should continue to wear masks and social distance in most cases as a higher proportion of the population is vaccinated.
For her part, Dr. Bode hopes to give the vaccine to every teenager who wants it and to continue running clinics once vaccines are approved for children under 16. With schools across the country returning to face-to-face learning, vaccination will be a requirement. important part of keeping the doors open.
“We’re just going to have a much easier time with fewer exposures, fewer quarantines, and the ability to just continue offering that personalized learning,” said Bode. “We know they are not doing well with this virtual learning environment, and we need to learn them again full-time, in person, five days a week.”