Pierce County mystery: Did several children under age 12 really get COVID-19 vaccines?
Many South Sound families are understandably impatient to get their young school-age children inoculated against COVID-19. With the Delta variant raging, US pediatric hospitalizations spiking and the school year about to start, what parent of an elementary-age student wouldn’t feel a bit anxious right now?
Relief is coming fairly soon. At least one COVID vaccine for children under age 12 should receive Food and Drug Administration approval in “a couple of months,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser, said last week.
That will be a day to rejoice. Safely vaccinating kids at least down to kindergarten will plug a big gap in our national defense against the virus and its highly contagious variant.
Meantime, a head-scratching quirk in Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department data suggests some local children under 12 already have been vaccinated.
According to TPCHD’s online COVID dashboard, a total of 48 kids ages 0-11 have received shots; 21 are partially vaccinated while 27 have had the full series.
Granted, that’s a pebble thrown into an ocean of data, a statistically irrelevant blip in a county with more than 150,000 children in that demographic group.
Still, this is public-facing data that deserves answers at a time when families are increasingly eager for information and protection.
Other counties, including King, don’t report vaccinations among those under 12. A Washington Department of Health spokesperson told us they don’t have reliable data and don’t track it.
So what’s up in the 253? We wish we could say we solved the mystery of the four dozen vaccinated children. Alas, the explanation provided by TPCHD officials didn’t provide the clarity we sought.
The anomalous data is the result of three factors, according to a department spokesperson: birthdate entry clerical errors; healthcare providers’ discretion to make vaccine exceptions; and clinical trial participation among young people.
An examination of the last two factors leads down a dark rabbit hole.
Some healthcare providers theoretically do now have the ability to inoculate kids age 5-11 on an “off-label” basis. But that possibility didn’t open up until last week, when the FDA granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine for people 16 and older.
Keep in mind, too, that most public health experts strongly discourage “off label” vaccinations; proper dosage and vaccine efficacy in small humans is being carefully researched, and emergency use authorization for 5-11 year olds is still pending.
So if doctors really are making exceptions in Pierce County, it should raise red flags among health officials.
“No child under 12 years of age should be receiving COVID-19 vaccines at this time, and this viewpoint is agreed upon by the FDA, the CDC, and also the American Academy of Pediatrics,” Dr. Janet Englund, a pediatrics professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a practitioner at Seattle Children’s Hospital, told us by email.
As for clinical trials involving children, Englund has good insights; she’s the investigator for a Seattle-based Pfizer vaccine study, which is in the process of enrolling up to 150 children ages 6 months to 11 years. Though they’re given a much smaller dose than adults, the goal is the same: to produce a healthy antibody response.
Children in the study, including what Englund believes is a small number from Pierce County, receive either a vaccine or saltwater placebo. The randomized approach, she said, precludes any accurate record keeping of who’s been vaccinated.
Englund said she’s not aware of other clinical trials in the Seattle/Tacoma area.
Add it all together, and we’re left with one plausible reason why the TPCHD website reports 48 local vaccinated children under age 12: clerical error.
The health department ought to clean up or remove the data, not let it generate potential confusion in the community.
Yes, this pandemic will keep testing the patience of South Sound families for a while longer. For now, elementary-age students have one less layer of protection, which makes the others more vital than ever: follow masking rules, maintain social distance, wash hands, stay home if sick or uncomfortable with precautions.
But help is on the way, in the form of thoroughly vetted, safely administered shots in the arm, available to young and old alike.
Pierce County’s best hope for a return to post-COVID normalcy, like our hope for all things, rides on the shoulders of our children.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 11:00 AM.