Doctors are really encouraging parents to get their kids vaccinated now that the COVID shot is available for everyone five and up. While the roll-out for the 5-11 age group was a bit slow here in Northern Nevada. The health district is now making it a bit easier on parents.
It's been a little over a week and a half since the health district started administering doses for that age group, and until now it's been first come first served, with many families waiting for hours to get a dose on the weekend. Well, good news on that front as the health district just put on their site the option to schedule an appointment. It's under the schedule first dose here, and you just click one of the two buttons that classify the 5-11 years age group.
“We are not seeing the long lines and wait times occurring for those 5-11 year old, so that's good news for parents who want to get their kids vaccinated," said Washoe County District Health Officer Kevin Dick.
When it comes to COVID cases here in Washoe County, we are down a little bit, with a 7 day average of 108.9 new cases, down from 150 earlier this month, but officials did note 114 cases today and 117 yesterday.
"We still have quite high levels of COVID-19 in our community, we still have hospitals that are still strained," said Dick.
Washoe County Health District has vaccinated over 770 kids 5-11 so far, but that does not count all the vaccines provided at places like pediatricians or pharmacies. This comes just in time, as nationwide, pediatric cases of COVID-19 are up by 22 percent compared to 2 weeks ago.
“We have seen a significant increase cases that are occurring in the 0-17-year-old range," said Dick.
"it isn’t a trivial disease in children, but also the size of that cohort to get them protected would have an impact on the dynamics of the outbreak," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
And while it's true that children do not get nearly as sick, with an estimate of only 50 percent even showing symptoms, they are able to transmit the virus easily…and there are still some that get very sick.
“There are instances where children do get sick and are hospitalized, and while it's rare, children also do die from COVID-19," said Dick.
The county plans on having a few more vaccination events partnering up with the school district. The next one is being held Thursday at Vaughn Middle School from 3-4:30 pm.
For a list of vaccine events or to schedule a vaccine in Washoe County, you can click here: https://covid19washoe.com/
