MURRAY – Several school districts in Utah have begun offering COVID-19 vaccine to high school students aged 16 and over, while other districts are exploring the idea.
A public health expert mentioned several critical reasons why the community needs teenagers to roll up their sleeves.
“We need everyone to bring us to herd immunity,” said Dr. Tamara Sheffield, Intermountain Healthcare’s medical director of health and prevention.
The health departments of Summit County and Tooele County have started setting up Pfizer vaccine clinics in high schools for students with parental permission.
Canyons school district officials said they are exploring the idea after a survey was sent to parents.
Many eligible students at Park City High School took part on Monday, receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Sheffield said the vaccine is important for teenagers because it would protect students themselves from the virus.
“It’s definitely something that will protect them,” Sheffield said.
In Utah, more than 300 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 during the pandemic and nearly 300 children across the country died from complications.
Sheffield said children are vectors of the disease, which means they need to be vaccinated to stop the transmission of the virus and protect the people around them from getting sick.
“We need to protect them from spreading the disease to those who may be more vulnerable to the disease and its complications,” she said.
Utah cannot afford herd immunity, Sheffield said, if children are excluded from the vaccine because the state’s population is young. Children represent almost 30% of the population, compared to only 22% nationally.
“Because we have so many children in our state, we need their number to help us prevent the collective spread of the disease to those who may not be vaccinated or whose immune systems do not respond as well to the vaccine,” “Sheffield said.
Pfizer’s attempts came across younger children.
Sheffield believes the vaccine could be available for children aged 12 to 15 in early summer and from late summer to early autumn for children under 12.
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Jed Boal