When COVID-19 vaccines are available for children between ages 5 and 11, Montgomery County officials want to be ready, and they told the County Council that challenges remain.
When COVID-19 vaccines are available for children between ages 5 and 11, Montgomery County, Maryland, officials want to be ready, and they told the County Council that challenges remain. County officials estimate that 105,000 children are in the 5-to-11 age group, and Sean O’Donnell, with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, told council members and school officials on Tuesday that when Food and Drug Administration approval is given, the plan is for the county and private providers to be able to vaccinate between 25% and 30% of children in that age group in each of the first two weeks. “A huge percentage of people came out in the first week” when vaccines were first made available for 12- to 18-year-olds, said O’Donnell. “So I think we can expect to see that” when the vaccines are approved for use in younger children. But there are different challenges ahead, said Dr. Earl Stoddard, assistant chief administrative officer for the county: “We have been hemorrhaging school health staff for months” he told council members. Stoddard said the shortage was due in part to the toll the pandemic has taken on the health care industry as a whole. “We’ve burned our health care system out over the past 20 months,” he said.
