‘It’s disappointing’: COVID-19 vaccine uptake is slow among Beaufort Co. kids, teenagers
Only about 29% of kids and teenagers 17 or younger in Beaufort County have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, new state data show.
Just 1,270 children in Beaufort County’s 5- to 11-year-old age group have started inoculation with Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, which became available for young kids in early November.
And roughly 6,500 teenagers aged 12 to 17 in the county have received at least one dose, according to data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“It’s disappointing,” said Dr. Kurt Gambla, chief medical officer at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, in a Thursday interview. “It’s a very risky proposition to just assume that your kid’s going to do well if they get sick.”
Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. Beaufort County and South Carolina as a whole have been grappling with the issue for months. The Palmetto State’s low inoculation rate this past summer helped the super-contagious delta variant cut through the population, infecting thousands of people.
But the Pfizer vaccine recently became available for kids aged 5 to 11, and health officials now know that vaccinating this age group will likely prove to be a complicated, time-consuming endeavor. (Teenagers 12 or older have had access to Pfizer’s shots for months.)
“I do wish that we would see a faster increase in the uptake of the vaccine in the 5 to 11 year olds,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state’s director of public health, during a Wednesday briefing with reporters. “We know (it’s) the best way to keep them safe and in-person in school.”
‘Why would you take that chance?’
Gambla was not surprised by Beaufort County’s pediatric vaccine numbers, which mirror statewide data. (Only 24.5% of South Carolina’s eligible children and teenagers have received at least one dose.)
“Typically, you don’t see kids get as ill,” Gambla said. “I think that’s been the main reason that people have not been jumping all over it, getting their kids vaccinated.”
Children generally fare better with COVID-19 than older adults, and adolescents regularly have mild or asymptomatic infections. The risk for severe disease has been minimal for kids.
Only 13 coronavirus hospitalizations among children aged 10 or younger have been reported in Beaufort County, accounting for about 1.3% of the county’s total COVID-19 inpatient admissions, DHEC data show. And just 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations have been recorded in the county’s 11- to 20-year-old age group.
DHEC has reported zero pediatric COVID-19 deaths in Beaufort County.
But Gambla also noted that there’s always a risk that children could get extremely ill after contracting SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus.
Eight kids aged 10 or younger, and 19 teenagers in the 11- to 20-year-old age group, have died from COVID-19 in South Carolina, according to DHEC.
The Palmetto State also has recorded 179 cases of a rare coronavirus-associated inflammatory syndrome in children, which is known as MISC-C. Some kids with the condition have reportedly suffered from neurological symptoms including encephalopathy, a broad term for “any diffuse disease of the brain that alters brain function or structure,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“It’s not 100% guaranteed that (COVID-19 is) going to look like a bad cold for your kid,” Gambla said. “Just like you would normally for the flu or anything else, if there’s a potential that (a child) could get really sick or die, why would you take that chance?”
Gambla also noted that kids can spread the coronavirus to other more vulnerable people.
Almost 19% of Beaufort County’s COVID-19 cases (5,184 of about 27,700 total infections) have been recorded among teenagers aged 11 to 20, DHEC data show.
Where are pediatric vaccines available?
Local parents can find an online list of Beaufort County vaccine providers that have pediatric shots at: bit.ly/VaxLocator (click on “View Map,” enter your home address into the search tool and then click on “Locations Offering Pediatrics”).
DHEC’s Vaccine Locator web page, as of about 1 p.m. Monday, listed some area health care facilities as having pediatric doses, including Beaufort Memorial Hospital and the Beaufort Health Department.
Book appointments at the health department online at: bit.ly/DHECScheduler
Data in this story are current as of Monday afternoon.
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 2:48 PM.
