Shots tick up as kids 12-15 roll up sleeves

State virus cases rise by 192; 7 more people hospitalized

Emily Parker, 15, of Russellville gets her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine Thursday in Little Rock from physician assistant Rafael Rodriguez at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences vaccination clinic held in the Centre at University Park. UAMS clinics began offering shots to children ages 12 and older Thursday.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)
Emily Parker, 15, of Russellville gets her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine Thursday in Little Rock from physician assistant Rafael Rodriguez at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences vaccination clinic held in the Centre at University Park. UAMS clinics began offering shots to children ages 12 and older Thursday. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)

Coronavirus vaccinations for Arkansans age 12-15 appeared to be slowly ramping up Thursday, a day after the shots for that age group were recommended by an advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 70 children were scheduled to receive their initial Pfizer doses at Northwest Arkansas Pediatrics' first covid-19 vaccination clinic on Thursday afternoon in Fayetteville.

At Little Rock Pediatrics, however, 12-year-old Sara Childers was one of only two patients with appointments to get the shots Thursday.

"She basically got it because I wanted her to," Sara's mother, Carol, the clinic's nurse manager, said.

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"I've already had mine. Her brother is 16, and he's already had his. We've just been anxiously waiting for it to be OK'd for her age group."

For her part, Sara said she was happy for the opportunity.

"It really wasn't a big deal," she said of getting her first dose. "It really was just a shot."

Jo Lynne Varner, the clinic administrator, said a dozen more patients had appointments to receive the shots today.

"There's just a lot of hesitancy right now among everybody, as you know," Varner said. "We've had two people that were scheduled today cancel, and one of that I've scheduled has changed their mind.

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"We've tried to do a lot of education along the way, but I think we're going to have to step that up. Hopefully, as they see other people's children getting it and doing well, they will go ahead."

Meanwhile, Arkansas' count of coronavirus cases rose Thursday by 192 -- the first increase in three days that was higher than the one the week earlier, although it was only higher by four.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by seven, to 176, its highest level in a week.

The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by six, to 5,783.

Although Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday said children who are age 12-15 had been cleared to receive the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, many physicians and pharmacists were waiting for the recommendations by the CDC advisory committee on Wednesday afternoon before they began giving the shots to youths in the new age group. There are about 160,000 children in that age range in Arkansas.

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The Health Department on Thursday was still working on getting Pfizer doses to the 374 health care providers, including the department's 92 local health units, that participate in a federal program that provides free vaccines to children.

About 200 of the providers, most of which are medical clinics, had access to the vaccine as of Thursday, state Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said.

She said the others should have the vaccine by sometime next week.

Local health units that have Pfizer will start offering those shots to people 12 to 15 today, Dillaha said.

People age 16 and older have been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to receive the Pfizer vaccine since December.

The other two FDA-authorized vaccines, from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, have only been cleared for people 18 and older.

After attending classes at Jacksonville Middle School virtually this year, Sara Childers, a sixth-grader, said being vaccinated will make her more comfortable next year, when she plans to go back to in-person classes.

Once she's fully vaccinated, Sara will also be able to visit her grandparents indoors and even stay overnight, her mother said.

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"We've seen them a couple of times outside, but only because they are already vaccinated," Carol Childers said.

Although only one other child was scheduled to receive the shots at the clinic Thursday, Varner said she was hoping to use the other four doses in the Pfizer vial by the end of the day by offering the shots to patients who were scheduled for annual checkups.

Natalie Burr, one of the clinic's pediatricians, said she'll also be recommending the vaccine to parents who haven't yet gotten their shots.

She said she started getting calls a couple of weeks ago from parents who had seen news reports predicting that the vaccine would soon be authorized for the new age group.

The clinic announced on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon that it had vaccine doses available. By the end of the day, it had appointments to give the shots to nine patients today, she said.

Burr said she's also heard from parents who haven't yet made up their minds about whether to vaccinate their children.

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"Anytime there's something new, people are hesitant, and that goes for most new vaccines," Burr said. "There will always be some parents that are hesitant about it or have questions about it, and that's right up our alley as pediatricians."

Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas' Northwest Arkansas Pediatrics booked all of the appointment slots it had available for Thursday, pediatrician Orrin Davis said.

Depending on the demand, he said the clinic may administer initial doses once a week or every other week.

"I think that families have been interested in the vaccine for their kids for a while," Davis said.

"I would say on a daily basis parents have asked about the covid vaccine: Is it available? Is it something I'd recommend for their kid?"

His answer to that question is yes.

"It's a vaccine that's been studied. It's been safe. It's been effective, and effective in preventing most of the covid-19 symptoms but for sure preventing hospitalizations and terrible complications," he said.

Dillaha said the Health Department and other providers are also working to set up vaccination clinics at schools.

The Beebe School District on Wednesday sent students 12 and older home with consent forms, to be signed by their parents, for a vaccination clinic planned for Tuesday at the high school cafeteria, with the shots provided by Burrow's Drug Store.

About 40 of the forms had been returned as of Thursday, district spokeswoman Jessica Prothro said.

Although it will be after the end of the school year, the district will also hold a second-dose clinic on June 8, she said.

"We are excited we're able to provide this opportunity to our students and get on the path back to normalcy," Prothro said.

In Jonesboro, St. Bernards Healthcare is offering Pfizer shots to students 12 and older who sign up for the free sports physicals it will be performing on Saturday at Arkansas State University's First National Bank Arena.

Health system spokesman Mitchell Nail said 40 students had signed up to receive the shots as of Thursday.

Little Rock-based Baptist Health announced Thursday that it was offering the shots to people age 12 and up at locations around the state.

The shots are available on a walk-up basis or by appointment at the system's hospitals in Little Rock, Conway, Malvern, Arkadelphia, Heber Springs and Stuttgart; its Medical Office Building in North Little Rock; and at Baptist Health Medical Plaza in Fort Smith.

Health Department figures, which likely don't yet include many, if any, doses administered to the newly eligible age group, indicated that the pace of vaccinations was continuing to slow.

During the week ending Thursday, an average of fewer than 9,300 doses a day, including second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines' two-dose regimens, were administered, according to the figures.

That was down from an average of more than 9,400 doses a day during the week ending Wednesday and more than 11,800 a day the week ending May 6.

According to the CDC, the number of Arkansans who had received at least one vaccine dose rose Thursday by 3,250, to 1,119,545, representing about 37.1% of the state's population.

The number who had been fully vaccinated rose by 6,343 to 859,154, or about 28.5% of the population.

Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas continued to rank 44th in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one vaccine dose.

It fell from 48th to 49th, ahead of only Alabama and Mississippi, in the percentage of its residents who were fully vaccinated.

As providers work to use up their inventory, Dillaha said Arkansas is not ordering additional doses of Pfizer from the federal government for next week for the third week in a row.

She said the state is also not ordering additional doses of Johnson & Johnson after ordering 5,200 doses for this week, but it is ordering a small amount of Moderna doses for providers in southern Arkansas.

"I think they're making another push to vaccinate businesses in the state, and I think they're trying to address some of the facilities in that part of the state," Dillaha said.

ACTIVE CASES RISE

Dillaha said only two of the deaths reported Thursday happened within the past month. The other four happened in April, she said.

The number of covid-19 patients who were on ventilators fell for the second straight day, going from 42 as of Wednesday to 35.

After falling for two days, the average number of cases added to the state's tallies each day over a rolling seven-day period rose slightly, to 184.

That was up from this year's low of 151 cases a day during the week ending April 2 but down from the 203 a day that were added the week ending May 6.

The cases that were added Thursday included 120 that were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.

The other 72 were "probable" cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.

The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 338,235.

That comprised 264,545 confirmed cases and 73,690 probable ones.

The number of cases that were considered active rose by seven, to 2,045, as new cases outpaced recoveries.

Pulaski County had the most new cases, 42, followed by Benton County with 20, and Washington County with 16.

Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department's count of cases rose by one.

The state's death toll rose by two, to 4,587, among confirmed cases and by four, to 1,196, among probable cases.

Among nursing home and assisted living facility residents, the state's count of virus deaths remained at 2,081.

The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew by 18, to 16,055.

The number of the state's virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator with covid-19 remained at 1,639.

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