Why are students of all ages getting COVID-19 if the vaccine is readily available to most of them?
Children 11 and under still don’t have a COVID-19 vaccine approved for them. That means elementary students cannot get vaccinated. However, the rate of COVID-19 is nearly the same at all grade levels in many school districts.
That’s been cause for concern for parents. It’s also been ammunition for parents who do not want to get their children vaccinated.
“I think one reason is the number of students that an individual contacts in high school is increased because of the changing of classrooms and moving about the school. In the elementary schools, they’re more centrally located in their classroom with the same students,“ Tompkins County Public Health Director Frank Kruppa told CNYCentral. “I would definitely believe that if we had lower vaccination rates, we would likely be seeing larger positive cases in our community.”
Spread of COVID-19 outside of schools is also a major issue.
Another public health expert framed the issue differently – pointing to public health measures that are not being followed.
“There we see no masks, there we see they’re huddling together during games and different things and people are not following the public health measures,” said Dr. Indu Gupta, Onondaga County Health Commissioner explained. “Are they being implemented rightfully, proper masking? Are there symptom checks or different ways in which schools have been taking care of it? Are they participating in surveillance testing?”
Even still, Dr. Gupta says breakthrough cases are low and vaccination remains the best tool against the coronavirus pandemic.
Covid 19 Coronavirus Vaccine. Medical injection syringe and vial on blue background. Health care vaccination research concept. 3d illustration
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]