MURRAY – A couple of Utah school districts have begun giving the COVID-19 vaccine to high school students, over the age of 16, while other districts were exploring the idea.
A public health expert cited several critical reasons why the community needs teens to roll up their sleeves.
“We need everyone to take us to the herd’s immunity,” said Dr. Tamara Sheffield, Intermountain Healthcare’s medical director of prevention and community health.
Summit and Tooele County health departments began implementing Pfizer vaccine clinical practices in high schools for students with parental permission.
Canyons School District officials said they were exploring the idea after sending a survey to parents.
Many eligible Park City High School-aged students did their part Monday, getting the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Sheffield said the vaccine was important for teenagers as it would protect the students themselves from the virus.
“It’s definitely something that will protect them,” Sheffield said.
In Utah, more than 300 children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 during the pandemic and nearly 300 children nationwide have died from complications.
Sheffield said children were vectors of the disease, which means they need to be vaccinated to break down the virus and protect the people around them from the disease.
“We need to protect them so that they do not transmit the disease to those who may be more vulnerable to the disease and its complications,” he said.
Utah cannot get herd immunity, Sheffield said, if children are excluded from the vaccine because the state’s population is young. Children make up about 30% of the population, compared to only 22% nationwide.
“Because we have so many children in our state, we need their number so we can prevent the disease from spreading collectively to those who may not be able to be vaccinated or whose immune systems do not respond so well to the vaccine,” Sheffield said. .
Pfizer tests for younger children have been coming.
Sheffield believes the vaccine may be available for children aged 12 to 15 in early summer and late summer in early autumn for children under 12.
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Jed Boal