NJ plans large rollout of COVID vaccine for children, but will the demand be there?

New Jersey is planning a robust rollout of COVID vaccines for 760,000 children aged 5 to 11 who would become eligible for the two-dose shot as early as next week when federal regulators are expected to give final approval, the state's top health official said Wednesday.  

The state has pre-ordered 205,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine and has plans to set up school clinics and possibly reopen mega-sites, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said. 

But will the demand be there?

On Thursday, a national poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that only 27% of parents would get their 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated right away, 33% will take a wait-a-see approach and 30% said they definitely would not let their children get the shots.

That hesitancy is already being seen in New Jersey

Even though the state has one of the highest vaccination rates in the U.S., younger adolescents are not getting vaccinated as much as health officials had expected — or hoped.

About 71% of 16- and 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. That drops to 57% among 12- to 15-year-olds, who became eligible in May. By contrast, about 80% of all Americans 18 years and older have gotten at least one shot.  

"We need to increase that coverage as we prepare to vaccinate children 5 to 11," Persichilli said at a briefing Wednesday.

Hesitancy among parents of adolescents has prompted Department of Health staff to work with school officials in every district to "identify those individuals and try to encourage them and their parents to line up and get a shot in the arm," Persichilli said.  

But the vaccine hesitancy that exists among parents of adolescents could be even greater among those with younger kids.

A Monmouth University poll in late August found that 53% of those interviewed supported a school vaccine mandate for those 12 years and older. But support dropped to 45% when people were asked if students younger than 12 should be required to get the vaccine. 

COVID in children

Children can become infected with COVID just as easily as adults, but they are far less likely to become severely ill. Only eight of New Jersey's 27,863 COVID deaths were among those younger than 18 years — and most had severe underlying conditions.

The impact on schools this season has been relatively low. Since full-day, in-person learning resumed in September, 137 outbreaks have been reported among more than 2,500 schools statewide, affecting 613 students and 102 staff. 

But unvaccinated children are still a considerable threat to others, health experts say. They can be asymptomatic spreaders of the virus by unknowingly transmitting it to older, at-risk adults.

After hours of discussion over its efficacy and safety, the vaccine was approved for 5- to 11-year-olds by a Food and Drug Administration panel on Tuesday that said its benefits outweigh any risks. 

“It's very hard for me to believe that the risk for a severe outcome is going to come close to the known risk that we've seen for this virus in this age group," said Dr. Patrick Moore, a virus expert at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. 

The vaccine would be given in two shots, three weeks apart at one-third of the dose given to adults and adolescents. It still needs approval from a federal Centers for Disease Control panel, which is expected to meet early next week to vote.  The CDC director will then make the final call for approval.

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Health officials say a children's vaccine comes at an important time of the year as the holiday season approaches and indoor gatherings can become places of easy transmission. Travel is expected to be significantly greater than last year when the CDC discouraged gatherings.

New Jersey's COVID cases and hospitalizations have begun to decrease following a summer surge, although health officials expect an uptick between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

COVID and myocarditis

State officials had hoped the vaccines for younger children would be available near the start of the school year, but federal regulators wanted Pfizer and Moderna — which is seeking approval for a vaccine for 6- to 11-year-olds — to expand their vaccine trials to get more data on myocarditis, a rare side effect that involves inflammation of the heart. The studies among 5,000 children were still too small to detect myocarditis. 

Generally, myocarditis occurs more often in adolescents and young adults than in the younger age group, Dr. Matthew Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, told the FDA committee.

Mitchel Alpert, director of pediatric cardiology at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune, said COVID itself causes far more cases of myocarditis than the vaccine appears to.

Myocarditis causes children to have chest pain, fever and trouble breathing, but they typically make a full recovery in three to six months, Alpert said.

“You have to decide, do you want your child getting COVID, or do you want your child getting the COVID vaccine?" he said. "It's going to be one or the other, and I always stress you're much better off with the COVID vaccine than you are with COVID.”

Will the demand be there?

The New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians expects high demand, at least initially, for 5- to 11-year-olds and is pushing for more of its members, especially smaller practices, to get the vaccine, which did not occur during the rollout last winter when the vast majority of doses went to large sites. 

"This younger demographic should get their COVID-19 vaccine at their primary care office because they know their personal physician and are most comfortable with us," said Claudine Leone, general counsel for the group. "We can counsel their parents and answer questions and they want to hear from their personal physician."

Coinciding with the low vaccination rate for teenagers is an even lower demand so far for booster shots among eligible adults.

About 20% have received a booster or third dose, although that is expected to increase because Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters have only been available since late last week. The low rate has surprised officials in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration, who thought they needed to reopen as many as three of the state's mega-sites to handle the influx.

This article contains information from USA Today

Scott Fallon has covered the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in March 2020. To get unlimited access to the latest news about the pandemic's impact on New Jersey,  please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: fallon@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @newsfallon