Virginia preps for 748,000 children to become eligible for mini vaccines

A federal ruling on small-portioned coronavirus vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 is imminent, with the potential to expand shots to about 748,000 young Virginians.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized a two-shot regimen spaced three weeks apart. The next step is for an advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to meet Tuesday to discuss the plan. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will make the final decision.

“It’s a milestone on the road toward emerging from the pandemic, returning to a more normal life, and most importantly being able to provide this protection to more Virginians,” Dr. Danny Avula, state vaccine coordinator, said in a statement last week.

The Virginia Department of Health “has been planning for several months for the eventual rollout of this vaccine to young children, working with a wide range of healthcare partners to get these vulnerable children vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

State public health officials expect all newly eligible children will have access to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the next few months. But supplies may not meet demand in the initial weeks.

The expansion comes as health experts watch for a repeat of last winter’s surge, exacerbated by holiday travel and winter weather. Infectious disease modelers from the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute say there’s a chance new cases could exceed last January’s peak.

As the pandemic has evolved, children are making up a larger share of cases — nearly one in four infections are in people under 18. In Virginia, 134,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19, and 976 have been hospitalized with severe cases. Ten have died — three lived in Hampton Roads.

Virginia’s initial allocation of 252,000 child doses will be broken into three waves. Half of the state’s allocation will go to pharmacy chains through a federally managed program.

Dr. Douglas Mitchell, medical director of CHKD Medical Group, already has placed orders for the younger set and believes the organization will start receiving doses in the next week. The group runs 20 pediatric practices at 31 locations across the region.

“We expect there will be plenty of vaccine to go around, and that there will be many community sites offering vaccination in addition to many of CHKD’s pediatric practices,” he said. “We’ll have more information for parents and caregivers once final approval is granted.”

Mitchell said people can get COVID-19 and flu shots at the same time, and the group’s pediatricians will be advising that, too.

About 5.4 million Virginians are fully vaccinated, making up 63% of the population. Some of those are now able to get boosters. Over half a million Virginians, or 6% of the population, have received a third COVID-19 vaccine.

To assist with the growing scope of the vaccination campaign, a clinic at Military Circle Mall, 880 N. Military Hwy., offers vaccine appointments from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. The clinic, set up in the old Macy’s store, also conducts free COVID-19 tests every Monday.

Public health officials said the clinic has the highest numbers of any state-run site in Virginia. Since Oct. 9, it has provided over 5,700 shots.

Statewide, 5.8% of standard nasal swab tests came back positive last week, according to health department data, and over 1,400 new cases are being diagnosed each day, about 300 fewer than last week.

Virginians hospitalized for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 had dropped to 1,058 as of Friday, a 16% decline from the week prior. Close to 30% are in an intensive care unit, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. Of those critical patients, 72% were on ventilators.

New cases continue to fall following a surge in late summer spurred by the aggressive delta variant. With 2.6 million Virginians still completely unvaccinated, though, experts say large community outbreaks are still possible.

There have been at least 687,000 confirmed cases in the state, with 13,907 suspected deaths.

Hampton Roads had 43 reported fatalities last week: nine in Virginia Beach; six each in Newport News and Norfolk; five in Chesapeake; three each in Isle of Wight County, Portsmouth and Suffolk; two each in Accomack, Middlesex and York counties; and one each in Franklin and Mathews County.

Unvaccinated people have made up the vast majority of the state’s serious illnesses. Though breakthrough cases are happening more often, they are still considered uncommon. There have been 43,383 cases statewide. Deaths among fully vaccinated people — in 491 cases — didn’t increase over the past week.

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Some 45.8 million infections have been reported throughout the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 744,000 Americans have died. About 245.8 million people have had confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, with five million deaths.

Back in the region, there were about 1,700 new infections reported last week. Virginia Beach’s caseload continues to be the highest, with 383 new reports.

Large caseloads are expected in bigger cities, but some communities with fewer people see greater rates of new cases per capita. For last week, Franklin ranked the highest in the region based on population size, at 32 per 100,000 people. It was more than double the rates seen in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, with 12 and 13 per 100,000, respectively.

Here’s a look at vaccination rates throughout the region. These figures do not include the 628,000 doses administered to Virginians by the federal government, such as military, because location information has not been provided for them:

In Virginia Beach, 70% of adults and 59% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 53% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Norfolk, 56% of adults and 48% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 42% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Newport News, 67% of adults and 55% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 48% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Chesapeake, 69% of adults and 57% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 51% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Portsmouth, 62% of adults and 51% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 44% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Hampton, 66% of adults and 58% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 49% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In James City County, 81% of adults and 69% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 62% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Poquoson, 78% of adults and 65% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 59% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In York County, 73% of adults and 61% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 55% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Suffolk, 69% of adults and 57% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 51% of all residents are fully inoculated.
In Williamsburg, 59% of adults and 54% of the entire population have at least one dose. About 48% of all residents are fully inoculated.

For other pandemic data, go to www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus.

For more information on where to find vaccines, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or www.vaccines.gov. For phone assistance, call 1-877-VAX-IN-VA.

Elisha Sauers, 757-839-4754, elisha.sauers@pilotonline.com