SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — As soon as the COVID-19 vaccine is approved for children, Sonoma County health officials plan to vaccinate roughly 37,000 children, the county said in a press release Wednesday.
The county is awaiting a decision from federal officials on whether or not to authorize the Pzifer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
A decision is expected to made in early November, according to the release.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel is scheduled to meet on Oct. 26 to decide whether or not to authorize vaccine use on children.
If approved, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Nov. 2-3 to decide whether to recommend the vaccine for children.
If both the FDA and CDC approve those shots, the Sonoma County Office of Education’s goal is to vaccinate a a quarter of the 37,000 children by Dec. 1, then half by Jan. 31, 2022, and 70 percent by Feb. 28, 2022.
All doses will be free, and the county plans to open clinics on evenings and weekends to serve families unable to take time off work to get vaccinated.
Since Sonoma County classrooms reopened in late July, 586 students and 67 school staffers have tested positive for COVID-19, the county said.
10 percent of those cases have been linked to on-campus transmission
Children accounted 25.5% of COVID cases during the week ending Oct. 14, even though they make up 22.2% of the U.S. population, according to the release.
78 percent of eligible Sonoma County residents aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the latest data.
Roughly 67 percent of county residents aged 12 to 15 have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
