As Omicron Surges, Effort To Vaccinate Young Children Stalls

The national effort to vaccinate children has stalled even as the omicron variant upends schooling for millions of children and their families amid staffing shortages, shutdowns and heated battles over how to safely operate. Vaccination rates vary substantially across the country, a KHN analysis of the federal data shows.

Nearly half of Vermont’s 5- to 11-year-olds are fully vaccinated, while fewer than 10 percent have gotten both shots in nine mostly Southern states.

In Roosevelt County, 9.2 children are fully vaccinated and 17.6 percent have at least one dose.

In Montana, 14.2 percent are fully vaccinated and 20.9 percent have at least one dose.

Vaccine demand surged in November, with an initial wave of enthusiasm after the shot was approved for younger children. But parents have vaccinated younger kids at a slower pace than 12- to 15-year-olds, who became eligible in May. It took nearly six weeks for 1 in 5 younger kids to get their first shot, while adolescents reached that milestone in two weeks.

Nationally, a November KFF poll found that 29 percent of parents of 5- to 11-year-olds definitely won’t vaccinate their children and that an additional 7 percent would do so only if required. Though rates were similar for Black, white and Hispanic parents, political differences and location divided families. Only 22 percent of urban parents wouldn’t vaccinate their kids, while 49 percent of rural parents were opposed. Half of Republican parents said they definitely wouldn’t vaccinate their kids, compared with just 7 percent of Democrats.