Experts Say 12- to 17-Year-Olds Should Get COVID Vaccine [POLL]

NEW YORK — The new school year for kindergarten to 12th grade students begins in just about a month.

All around the state, school districts are reminding parents to make sure their children have up-to-date vaccinations.

Included this year is the recommendation that, if their children are 12 years of age or older, parents should consider getting them the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the new coronavirus.

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The Pfizer vaccine is, so far, the only one available for children age 12 to 17. It requires two doses 21 days apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Westchester County has set up vaccine clinics three days a week to get children required shots before school starts.

Westchester Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler said the clinics have all the vaccines kids need to start their in-person learning on time, including the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nassau County recently held a clinic in Hempstead to get students vaccinated for the coronavirus before school starts. Officials said the free shots were available to all students 12 and up, including college students.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has been tracking the progress in getting U.S. children under the age of 18 vaccinated.

As of July 7, the academy reported 8.5 million children in the United States have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That represents 45 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds and 32 percent of those 12 to 15.

All told, about 6.4 million children are fully vaccinated — or 36 percent between 16 and 17 and 24 percent of those 12 to 15.

The academy said the trends indicate a "substantial reduction" in the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines for children. The number of new vaccinations in a week dropped from a peak of about 1.6 million at the end of May — when the vaccine was approved for children 12 to 15 — to 333,000 the week ending July 7.

In a separate report, the academy said, as of July 29, nearly 4.2 million kids tested positive for the coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic.

Almost 72,000 cases were added in the past week, up from the previous week when about 39,000 cases were reported.

The report said that, since the pandemic began, children represented 14.3 percent of total cases, but for the week ending July 29, children were 19 percent of reported coronavirus cases.

That, according to medical experts, means unvaccinated individuals are getting infected in greater numbers because of the infectious nature of the delta variant, the New York Post reported.

"Our sense is because kids can't get vaccinated, parents should clearly be vaccinated themselves," said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chairwoman of the academy's committee on infectious diseases.

"And if their kids are 12 and older, they should be vaccinated as well," she told the Post.

Now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.