CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s leading officer is urging parents to have their children vaccinated for the coronavirus, citing low vaccination numbers among the county’s youngest residents and a high number of cases.
Dr. Sherri Young urged vaccinations among children during Thursday’s Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health meeting. According to Young, 11.5% of Kanawha County children ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated, and around 38.6% of children 12 to 15 have received initial vaccine doses and a booster shot. Anyone 12 years old and older can receive the Pfizer booster shot five months after their initial vaccine doses.
“This is a vaccine-preventable disease, and it also decreases the likelihood of severe infection, hospitalization and death,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that we have pediatric patients who are in hospitals right now with COVID, and it’s unfortunate because it could help [reduce] the community spread if we had better vaccination rates and protected our schools and so forth.”
Young said health officials continue to push vaccinations amid the surge of the omicron variant and a rise in breakthrough cases. She also reported there are not enough monoclonal antibodies to treat people after they test positive, and other county health bodies and health care facilities are facing the same problem.
“Please hear me when I say this,” she said, “Do not think that you cannot get vaccinated and that the monoclonal antibodies will be there for you. We just don’t have the supply.”
The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department will hold a coronavirus testing and vaccination clinic on Saturday at 108 Lee St. E., Charleston, WV 25301. The clinic will go from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Young noted during Thursday’s meeting that officials will not have drive-thru clinics until the spring because of weather-related concerns.