COLUMBUS – COVID-19 vaccinations finally are available to U.S. children as young as 5, to the relief of many parents.
“Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic and one that many of us have been very eager to see, ” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday, before a meeting of a key panel of CDC advisors, which voted to approve the distribution.
Our #COVID19 vaccine doses for children aged 5 to 11 have arrived! Columbus Public Health is waiting for guidance from the CDC and ODH and will begin offering the vaccine at all of our vaccine clinics as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/2OLrN4PeBp
— Columbus Health (@ColumbusHealth) November 3, 2021
Even though the virus tends to be more severe in adults, COVID-19 is causing plenty of suffering among children, including serious illnesses and deaths that can be largely prevented. More than 2,000 Ohio children under 18 have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and 15 have died, so health officials hailed the arrival of the vaccine for the estimated 997,570 Ohio children who are now eligible for the vaccine.
“Just like adults, when children become sick from COVID-19, they can spread it to others and suffer severe health outcomes, or even death. When more people are vaccinated, it lessens the opportunity for dangerous variants to take hold, helping us to get control of this pandemic,” said Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.
Pfizer has already shipped millions of doses to states and health officials say the vaccine will arrive in Ohio on a staggered schedule over the coming days.
Local health departments, pediatricians, family physicians, community health centers, hospitals and pharmacies will be scheduling appointments or accepting walk-ins, Vanderhoff said.
The vaccine requires two shots three weeks apart and recipients are considered fully immunized two weeks after their second dose. Vanderhoff says children who receive their first dose before Nov. 20 will be fully covered by Christmas.
The Pfizer pediatric formulation is one-third as potent as the vaccine given to people over the age of 12, 10 micrograms compared with the dose of 30 micrograms used in adults and adolescents, and the needles are smaller than those used for the older recipients.
Columbus library cuts hours due to staff shortage
Staff shortages related to the coronavirus pandemic have forced the Columbus Metropolitan Library system to close on Sundays for at least two months.
The 23-branch system, which normally employs about 870 full and part-time staff in Columbus and several suburbs, currently has almost 160 unfilled positions, spokesperson Ben Zenitsky said in a Tuesday.
The system furloughed more than 600 workers last year following stay-at-home orders that shuttered businesses across the state.
The Sunday closures will be in place from Nov. 14, through at least Jan. 9, 2022, when then board of directors will decide whether to extend them.