1 In 4 Young Kids Vaccinated As NJ Mask Mandate End Looms: Report

ACROSS NEW JERSEY — As the Garden State prepares for a March 7 end to a statewide mask mandate in schools and day care facilities, new state data has revealed only 1 in 4 young New Jersey kids are fully vaccinated and 1 in 3 received at least one COVID-19 inoculation.

More than two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration greenlit the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in children ages 5-11, 2 out of every 3 New Jersey kids that age have yet to get a single dose, according to report by New Jersey Herald citing the state department of health.

Those numbers, paired with the upcoming end of the state's mask mandate in schools, have pediatricians and public health officials concerned.

"It's concerning, but it's not surprising," Dr. Mike Cascarina, president of the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians, told the Herald. "There is this large undercurrent of vaccine hesitancy especially among the young ... not young children, but young parents."

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to drop nationally since the peak of the coronavirus's omicron variant wave. More than 3,300 people in the United States died from the virus Wednesday, culminating in an average of 2,292 deaths per day in the past week, according to The New York Times.

In New Jersey, cases are down 59 percent in the last 14 days, according to Times data. Hospitalizations are down 47 percent while deaths have dropped by 37 percent.

Compared to young kids, nearly 70 percent of youths ages 12-18 in New Jersey are considered fully vaccinated, the Times reported. Eighty-three percent of residents ages 18-64 and 91 percent of residents 65 and older are also fully vaccinated.

Despite the discouraging statistics, New Jersey's vaccination rate for kids age 5-11 is above the national average. As of Feb. 2, about 22 percent of children ages 5-11 were fully vaccinated nationwide.

One reason behind the low vaccination rate is that many parents believe COVID-19 isn't dangerous for children. Another reason is younger parents who have adopted anti-vaccine stances based on what they see on social media, Cascarina told the Herald.

The new state data was released less than two weeks after Gov. Phil Murphy announced an end to the statewide mask mandate in schools and childcare centers. Despite ending the mandate, the state will allow individual school districts and day care centers to determine their own requirements and mask policies.

"Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy," Murphy said on social media Feb. 7. "But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations."

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