LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Health officials on Wednesday gave an update on COVID-19 booster guidance and said the state of California is preparing to roll out COVID-19 vaccinations for younger children once federal and state approvals — expected next week — are complete.
In a Wednesday morning briefing, Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California Health & Human Services Agency, and Dr. Erica Pan, state epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health, discussed vaccine booster eligibility and the state’s plan to vaccinate children ages 5 to 11 once the federal and state review process is complete.
Later in the day, Gov. Gavin Newsom received a Moderna vaccine booster at an Asian Health Services’ clinic in Oakland’s Chinatown, encouraging eligible Californians to get their booster and keep immunity strong, especially as the winter months approach.
As of Wednesday, nearly two million Californians had received their booster dose, representing 14.3% of the nationwide total recipients as reported by the CDC.
Ghaly said that, to date, 52 million COVID-19 doses have been administered across California, where 87% of the eligible population have received at least one dose.
He said the case numbers across the state have stabilized, but they are still seeing a significant impact on the unvaccinated, who are 6.6 times more likely to be infected, 12 times more likely to be hospitalized and 18 times more likely to have the worst outcome in death.
As of Wednesday, Ghaly said California had a seven-day case rate of 1.9% and testing positivity of 2.2%, numbers which have stopped declining and are plateauing. In some parts of the state, where there are higher numbers of unvaccinated residents, Ghaly said they are concerned they may be starting to witness an uptick in cases.
At that time, there were about 4,000 people hospitalized, with about 1,000 in intensive care units, Ghaly said.
Ghaly said health officials are concerned about COVID-19 as well as other respiratory illnesses like flu circulating in the fall and winter months, and they need to double down on vaccination efforts.
Last year at this time, Ghaly the state started seeing an increase in cases, and California’s seven day positivity rate peaked at 17.1% at the end of the year. In January, around 21,000 people were hospitalized, and more than 18,500 people in California died that month, accounting for 25% of the pandemic’s death toll in the state.
“Vaccines continue to save lives,” said Ghaly, noting they will help the state get back to normal.
With the Food and Drug Administration extending emergency authorization to all three vaccine manufacturers for booster shots, Ghaly urged Californians to get boosters as well as the flu vaccine, which can be co-administered.
He said those who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine and are eligible should get a booster six months after they received their series.
Those who are eligible are age 65 years and older, those 18 and older who live in long-term care facilities, have underlying health issues or who are at increased risk of social inequities — such as living in a community hard hit by COVID-19 — or who have significant risk for exposure due to work.
Everyone older than 18 who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccinate should get a booster two months after the vaccine, he said.
Ghaly — who along with Pan has received a booster — said mixing and matching boosters have now been approved for COVID-19, and it’s a strategy common with other vaccines. “We now have more options than ever before for maintaining this protection.”
He said the nation’s top immunization experts and state experts have analyzed the data and determined that these boosters are safe and effective.
There are reports of mild side effects such as headache, fever and soreness but no serious illness due the boosters, Ghaly said.
State ready to roll out vaccinations for children
Dr. Pan, who is herself a parent, said the state’s youngest children have remained vulnerable to COVID-19 as older Californians have received vaccines. “Now the time is coming to protect them,” she said of children.
As of Oct. 21, over six million children in the United States have been infected by COVID-19, with more than one million child cases added over the last six weeks. Pan said the proportion of pediatric cases have increased as older people have been vaccinated.
She said there are nearly 700,000 cases in young people 17 and younger, with the median age of 11. There have been more than 35 pediatric deaths in California alone, more than what is seen in a very bad flu season.
In an FDA advisory committee meeting on Tuesday, Pan said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of COVID-19 deaths among 5- to 11-year-old children was equivalent to the top 10 leading causes of death in that age group recently.
She said there isn’t an acceptable number of childhood deaths when protection is available.
Pan said children can experience “long COVID” as well as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, which is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage multiple organ systems, can require hospitalization and is sometimes life-threatening.
As of Oct. 25, the California Department of Public Health reported that there have been 677 cases of MIS-C in the state among children with a median age of 8 years old.
Pan said the FDA has made an emergency authorization recommendation for Pfizer for children ages 5 to 11.
About 4,000 children ages 5 to 11 have been enrolled in the clinical trials, which have shown a strong immune response for children and more than 90% efficacy. She said it’s given in two doses and is about a third the size of adult doses. She said research has found there might be mild side effects, with serious side effects being rare.
COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for children ages 16 and older in December and 12 and up in May, Pan said.
Pan said it’s expected that vaccines for children will be available as soon as the end of next week after the review process is completed and if recommended by both the CDC and the Western States Scientific Review Workgroup.
“We are ready to administer in California,” Pan said.
She said the United States government has procured enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all 5 to 11 years old in the state, which total about 3.5 million children, or 9% of the population.
There will be 1.2 million doses in the first week when the vaccine is fully approved for children, and Pan said it will be administered in accordance with the state’s COVID-19 action plan.
She said 4,000 sites are ready to administer the vaccine to children, with more than 8,000 providers enrolled to provide the services. More than 860,000 doses have already been ordered.
The state will leverage existing infrastructure for this latest vaccination effort, working closely with health departments, schools, community partners and clinics to administer it through mobile clinics and vaccine pop ups across the state, Pan said.
Once the vaccine is fully approved for 5- to 11-year-olds, Pan urged parents to call their pediatricians or local clinics to schedule their children for the vaccine.
In Lake County, vaccination clinics for students and community members at large have been hosted at some schools.
As for whether schools would again be involved in the vaccination effort for younger children, Jill Ruzicka, director of communications and government affairs for the Lake County Office of Education, told Lake County News, “For right now, we're waiting for the approval of the vaccine for the younger children, so we know the exact details. Once we know the details, we will work with all of our state, local and school district partners and come up with a plan that works best for our community.”
Vaccinations for children and adults also can be scheduled via the state’s My Turn website.
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State health officials discuss COVID-19 booster recommendations, vaccinations for younger children
- Elizabeth Larson
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