Push Continues to Get Children, Teens Vaccinated for COVID

DULUTH, Minn. – The FDA’s recent approval for COVID vaccine booster shots for kids ages 12 through 15 has local healthcare providers encouraged that parents will take their kids to get them.

Sherry Johnson, a Certified Nurse Practitioner in Infectious Disease at St Luke’s says they have seen a steady demand for kids’ vaccine shots during the recent winter break.  She hopes this trend will continue, given the most recent data and research into the Omicron variant shows it to cause more health issues in children, compared to previous strains that hit seniors hardest.

“Because Omicron variant is a disease that is more of the upper airways versus the lower lungs,” says Johnson.  “That affects children, particularly, because children are small and their anatomy is small and their airways are smaller, and so they often have a lot more respiratory distress from Omicron than an adult or an older child would.”

Johnson has seen healthy children with no underlying medical conditions become very sick from the Omicron variant of COVID, so she wants to put to rest that kids cannot get very sick from the virus.  “We don’t want to see healthy children be ill and hospitalized.”

As more people of all ages get vaccinated, Johnson also hopes everyone does their part to slow the spread of COVID in the general public.  “Let’s try to get back into the mindset of masking when we’re in public and social distancing.  We are tired of COVID.  We want to move on and we want to engage in usual social activities and get life back to normal.  I think that if we all just dig in and get vaccinated and maintain the precautions that we know are effect, then we will all be in a better place.”

Saint Luke continues to operate their vaccine clinic to help people get vaccinated and boosted.  People are encouraged to schedule an appointment time, but walk-ins are welcomed.