Q&A: Beaufort Co. parents can now get 12- to 15-year-olds a Pfizer vaccine. What to know
Beaufort County parents can now get their 12- to 15-year-olds vaccinated against COVID-19.
State health officials on Wednesday gave providers the OK to begin using Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine among the adolescent age group.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday expanded Pfizer’s emergency use authorization to include 12- to 15-year-olds. The company’s vaccine was previously available for residents 16 and up.
A federal panel of experts agreed with the FDA’s decision in a Wednesday meeting.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Pfizer vaccine in Beaufort and Jasper counties.
When exactly will 12- to 15-year-olds become eligible?
The inoculations will start Thursday.
Laura Renwick, a spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, in a Tuesday statement wrote that DHEC would wait for a federal advisory panel to officially recommend the Pfizer eligibility expansion before state officials allowed 12- to 15-year-olds to be vaccinated.
The federal panel, which is called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted in favor of the expansion Wednesday.
Where can I get the Pfizer vaccine?
The vaccine is available at some local health care providers and pharmacies, including several Walgreens stores.
Make sure you double-check whether a given location still carries Pfizer doses.
Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals are closing their vaccination site at the Buckwalter Recreation Center in Bluffton, for example, so that’s no longer an option.
Daisy Burroughs, a spokeswoman for the hospitals, in a Wednesday statement confirmed that neither medical center will offer Pfizer doses to the public moving forward, unless Hilton Head Regional Healthcare hosts a vaccination event or provides shots via a specific, “targeted” initiative (like a partnership with a school district).
The health care system recently decided to scale back its vaccine operations as the local demand for shots plummeted.
How can I search for Pfizer appointments or walk-in access?
An online DHEC tool shows which providers offer Pfizer shots in Beaufort and Jasper counties: https://bit.ly/DHECVaccineLocater
The tool, though, becomes outdated at times. You can also search the federal Vaccine Administration Management System, or VAMS, for appointment information: http://bit.ly/VAMSGuest
CVS and Walgreens have scheduling portals, too. Those online systems are: https://bit.ly/CVSImmunizations and https://bit.ly/WalgreensImmunizations
Walgreens as of early Wednesday had four local stores with Pfizer doses available, according to DHEC.
How will parental consent work in South Carolina?
Renwick, of DHEC, wrote that 12- to 15-year-olds will need consent from a parent or legal guardian to get vaccinated.
“All vaccine providers have their own unique immunization consent forms,” she wrote.
The federal government is also working to update VAMS with a “parental consent component,” she wrote.
How effective is the Pfizer vaccine in adolescents?
The company said that its two-dose vaccine, BNT162b2, was 100% efficacious against COVID-19 in 12- to 15-year-olds during a Phase 3 clinical trial.
The trial enrolled 2,260 adolescents. Eighteen coronavirus infections were reported in the study’s placebo group. No cases were discovered in vaccinated kids.
“The vaccine is really effective,” said Lior Rennert, a biostatistics expert at Clemson University. “No matter what age group you are in, your chances of getting severely sick from COVID are much, much higher than any adverse reaction to the vaccine.”
What are the vaccine’s side effects?
Dr. William Storo, a pediatrician at Seaside Pediatrics of Bluffton, noted that a sore arm is the most common side effect following Pfizer’s first dose.
The second dose, though, can have other side effects, Storo said.
“The symptoms can include more arm soreness, fever, fatigue, dizziness,” he said. “Younger people tend to mount a little bit more of an immune response than older people.”
Pfizer found that 12- to 15-year-old trial participants experienced similar side effects to those reported by 16- to 25-year-olds.
Some parents, Storo said, are worried about the lack of long-term efficacy data on coronavirus vaccines. But Storo in an interview stressed that the shots are safe.
“There’s no reason to suspect ... more significant long-term side effects than any other vaccine,” the pediatrician said. “There were erroneous reports early on of fertility concerns with the vaccine, but it’s been studied extensively. ... There’s no evidence of any increased infertility.”
Why is it important for kids to get vaccinated?
South Carolina has roughly 190,000 adolescents aged 12 to 14, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Renwick wrote. That’s only about 3.7% of the state’s population.
But Rennert, of Clemson University, said it’s still important to vaccinate children and teenagers, even if they’re less likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19.
“The young population are major contributors to asymptomatic disease transmission,” he said.
Kids, in other words, can infect older, unvaccinated people who are at a higher risk of COVID-19 complications, experts say.
Only about 1.4 million South Carolinians have been fully vaccinated since mid-December, according to DHEC. There are roughly 5.1 million residents statewide, federal data show.
Michael Schmidt, a microbiology and immunology professor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, agreed with Rennert.
“You want to eliminate as many hosts as possible,” especially given the coronavirus’ continued mutation, Schmidt said.
When will younger children become eligible for vaccines?
It’s still unclear.
But Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Tuesday told U.S. senators that he thinks “we will have enough information to vaccinate children of any age” by the end of 2021.
