COVID Vaccination Among Young Children Stalls in the United States

COVID Vaccination Among Young Children , Stalls in the United States.

NBC News reports pediatricians in the United States are alarmed at the slow pace in which young children are receiving a coronavirus vaccine.

As the Omicron variant spreads like wildfire, the country has hit new highs of COVID-related pediatric hospitalizations.

In the two months after Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine received authorization to be administered to children aged 5 to 11, merely 27% have received at least one dose.

Per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 18% of them have received two.

Health officials say the vaccination rates among children have differed by region in the United States.

Recent analysis shows almost 50% of 5- to 11-year-olds in Vermont are fully vaccinated.

According to NBC News, less than 10% of 5- to 11-year-olds have received two doses in nine Southern states.

You have these large swaths of vulnerable children who are going to school.

, Dr. Samir Shah, director of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, via NBC News.

Experts say they fear states with lower vaccination rates "are less likely to require masking or distancing...”.

One of the problems we’ve had is this perception that kids aren’t at risk for serious illness from this virus.

, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, via NBC News.

That’s obviously not true.

, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, via NBC News