Riley County anticipates getting its first shipment of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine by the end of the week, as it prepares to vaccinate youths aged 12 to 15.
The Centers for Disease Control is likely to give the go ahead Wednesday following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for that age group Monday. Riley County Public Information Officer Alice Massimi says a mass vaccination clinic is being planned for May 20 at the health department, specifically for kids ages 12 to 18.
“This is a population that nationwide we are seeing an increase in COVID cases among children, who were a population in the past that really weren’t being affected by COVID,” she said.
Massimi says the health department hopes to ease vaccine hesitancy parents may have by sharing information from the FDA’s trial study of the vaccine in more than 2,200 youth participants.
“Half of those children received the vaccine, half did not. Out of the half that received the vaccine there was 100 percent effectiveness,” she said.
Of the individuals who received the placebo 18 contracted COVID-19.
Health officials anticipate with the added vaccine approval, some 17 million American youths could be inoculated, bringing the country closer to Herd Immunity.
The Riley County Health Department was planning a Facebook Live event Monday at 12 p.m. with Manhattan area pediatricians to answer questions and concerns about the vaccine’s efficacy.
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