It’s been 10 weeks since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved coronavirus vaccines for children under the age of 5.
During that time, 1,282 children in that age group have gotten their first shot of vaccine in the 10 communities covered by The Sun Chronicle.
That’s just under 13% of 10,113 children.
All told, 281 children under the age of 5 have been fully vaccinated with either two doses of the Moderna vaccine or three doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Time between doses for the Moderna vaccine is four to eight weeks.
Time between the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and the second dose is three to eight weeks, and time between the second and third doses of the Pfizer is at least eight weeks.
In the week ending Sept. 1, 55 of the 106 new fully vaccinated people in area were 4 or younger. That’s just over half.
But in general, the vaccination rate is slow in the area.
Since the week ending Jan. 6, the area has gained just over 3 percentage points in total vaccination numbers.
The percentage at the beginning of the year was 68%. On Aug. 31 it was 71%.
If the current population is used to determine the percentage, the number goes up to 4 percentage points.
Over the last eight months, 8,518 people have become fully vaccinated in the area, an average of 1,065 per month.
At that rate it would take another four years and eight months for all 200,793 residents of the area to become fully vaccinated.
In reality, it would be longer because the actual average per month is much lower as fewer and fewer people are getting the shot.
For example, in the last four weeks just 426 people became fully vaccinated in area.
So full vaccination won’t ever be reached.
Some people don’t want the shot and it seems those that do are growing fewer.
Meanwhile, The Sun Chronicle monitored those who were vaccinated and those who were not vaccinated but were admitted to Sturdy for coronavirus for 67 days over seven months.
Out of 522 patients, 380 were vaccinated and 142 were not, 72% and 28%, respectively.
Level of transmission in the 10-community Sun Chronicle coverage area — low in Bristol County; medium in Norfolk County.
Number of new cases for the area since Aug. 25, 2022 — 174, a decrease of 25 or 12.56 % from the 199 in the week ending Aug. 25.
Percentage of positive tests for the area — 7.85%, up .08 points from the 7.77% recorded on Aug. 25.
Percentage vaccinated with two shots—70.98%, up .06 points from 70.92% recorded on Aug. 25.
All told, 142,526 out of the area’s population of 200,792 have been fully vaccinated.
Percentage vaccinated with booster — 40.87%, up 0.10 points from 40.77% recorded in the week ending Aug. 25.
Number of people currently hospitalized at Sturdy Memorial with coronavirus — NA.
Percentage of coronavirus patients hospitalized at Sturdy Memorial who are unvaccinated — NA.
Number of deaths in the area since the week ending Aug 25 — no poll taken for the week ending Sept. 1.
There have been at least 391 deaths in the area since the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020.
That’s a death percentage of 0.89% of the 43,941 cases recorded in the 10 communities.
The current average age of death statewide is 78.
Massachusetts’ level of transmission, according to the CDC:
No counties have a high level of transmission.
Ten counties — Barnstable, Berkshire, Dukes, Franklin, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester — have medium levels of transmission.
Four counties — Bristol, Essex, Hampden and Hampshire — have low levels of transmission.
Percentage of positive tests in state — 7.88%, up .06 points from the 7.82% recorded in the week ending Aug. 25.
George W. Rhodes can be reached at 508-236-0432.
