Majority of Erie County children remain unvaccinated against COVID-19

Nearly 17,000 Erie County children and teenagers have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but a majority of those ages 5 to 19 remain unvaccinated.

The highest percentage of those with at least a single dose — 47% — are county residents ages 15 to 19, according to data released Dec. 20 by the Erie County Department of Health.

That isn't a surprise, since the Pfizer vaccine has been available to that age group months longer than it has for younger children. Only 34% of children ages 10 to 14 and 18% of those ages 5 to 9 have received at least one dose of vaccine.

No COVID-19 vaccine is approved yet for children younger than 5.

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Vaccinating children is important, even though they don't tend to get as sick from COVID-19 as older adults do, said Howard Nadworny, M.D., a Saint Vincent Hospital infectious diseases specialist and county Health Department adviser.

"Young people are one of the highest-risk groups for spreading COVID," Nadworny said. "They come into contact with so many people."

The county's overall COVID-19 vaccination rate continues to slowly climb, with 54.7% of all residents now fully vaccinated and 63.1% of them having received at least one dose, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

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A total of 7,078 vaccine doses was given to county residents the week of Dec. 12-18, a decline from the 7,863 doses given Dec. 5-11 and the 8,796 doses given Nov. 28-Dec. 4.

"I'm afraid that we will see a lot more COVID in 2022 unless we get a big old push in vaccinations," said Melissa Lyon, county Health Department director.

Erie County sees 5,750 breakthrough COVID-19 cases

The county reported that 5,750 of its confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases have been people who were fully vaccinated. The total represents 3.9% of the county's fully vaccinated population.

Lyon, Nadworny and hospital leaders have been saying that there will be breakthrough cases like these, especially with the delta — and now the omicron — variants spreading in the community.

"But the people who are fully vaccinated and get COVID don't tend to get as severely ill," Nadworny said. "Their illness is usually milder, they aren't as likely to be hospitalized and they are far less likely to die from COVID."

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Of the county's 324 COVID-19 deaths in 2021, 17% have been fully vaccinated people. Nearly all of them have been 70 or older, according to the county Health Department.

Vaccine effectiveness has been shown to decline with age, primarily among those older than 75.

November's COVID-19 case and death totals among highest

The county reported 5,825 COVID-19 cases in November, the second-highest total of any month during the pandemic. Only December 2020's total was higher — 6,209 cases.

Sixty-six COVID-19 deaths were reported in the county during November. It's the third-highest total, surpassed only by December 2020 (207 deaths) and January 2021 (89 deaths).

Twenty-eight COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the county so far in December.

Erie County reported 203 new COVID-19 cases and no additional deaths Thursday. COVID-19 hospitalizations rose Thursday to 87 county residents but the county's 14-day moving average of daily hospitalizations decreased to 98.6, its lowest level since Nov. 24.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Many Erie County children remain unvaccinated against COVID-19