Jefferson County health officials seeing more pediatric vaccinations

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Local health officials said the Omicron COVID variant is infecting more young and school age children than we saw with the Delta strain.

Jefferson County doctors said for the past week in the county, kids 10 to 19 are causing the highest number of COVID cases.

Dr. David Hicks with the County Health Department said they are also seeing an increase in pediatric vaccinations since the Omicron surge.

According to CDC data, 74% of kids ages five to 12 have at least one shot in Jefferson County. CDC data shows 80 percent of kids 12 to 18 also have one dose within the county.

Hicks said these increases are likely coming from school cases and parents just becoming more comfortable with the vaccine.

“People are getting more comfortable with the idea,” Hicks said. “They think ‘okay, it’s been months now and kids are vaccinated and we haven’t heard anything alarming or concerning, so I may be more comfortable now to make that decision versus where I may have been two or three months ago.’”

Hicks said except in the younger than 18 age group, there hasn’t been a large increase in vaccine numbers in other age groups since Omicron.

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