Local health officials expect to be able to start offering COVID-19 vaccine to younger kids in the next couple of days.
Doctor Cynthia Morrow with the Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District says a few additional approvals from a federal advisory panel and the Virginia Department of Health are still needed for the 12 to 15 year old age group. Pfizer's vaccine is currently approved for use in people age 16 and older.
Morrow admitted demand at school vaccination clinics has not been as strong as hoped for. "The reality is across the country, we know that young, healthy people may not feel that the vaccine is as important as it is for older people. But we know they can spread the disease and we know they could spread it to people who could get very sick from it," Morrow said during a weekly conference call with reporters. "So it’s important for all of us who can get vaccinated to get vaccinated." Morrow said it's hard to know if the lower uptake in school clinics is due to the availability of vaccine from other sources or some other reason.
New Cases Remain Low In Roanoke Region
The weekly number of new COVID infections in the Roanoke area remained below 200 for the third straight week.
The Roanoke City-Alleghany Health District reported 179 new cases over the past week, up from 163 the previous week. Twenty-two residents of the district were hospitalized for complications related to COVID-19 as of Tuesday morning. There were 14 hospitalizations the previous week.
Six additional deaths were confirmed over the past week, bringing the district's total to 484.
