SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is getting deeper into cold and flu season and health officials are concerned about a resurgence of COVID-19. So far only 11% of people in the United States have gotten the new bivalent booster dose.
California's statewide COVID-19 vaccine numbers are trending slightly higher than the national average as 16% of Californians having received the latest booster.
In Sacramento County it’s up to 18%.
But, there is a group that hasn’t rolled up their sleeves as frequent as others: children.
Sonya Frausto is a pharmacist at Ten Acres Pharmacy who has been vaccinating kids.
“[We've] started to see more kids recently because of the holidays that are coming up and everyone wants their kid to be vaccinated before the holiday season,” said Frausto.
Some officials and residents are saying it’s not that people don’t want the vaccine, it’s a matter of access and finding the time to make it happen.
When the announcement of an approved booster shot for children first came out Frausto said, “our phones were ringing off the hook.”
She says they’ve seen a lot of hesitancy among parents with some children now on their third COVID-19 vaccine.
“Parents are concerned because the vaccine has come out so quickly and especially for kids, we’ve seen the vaccine come out this year with boosters just being approved a couple months ago and now we are doing a bivalent that’s been approved as well. Parents need a little education on 'what do I do next for my kids,'” said Frausto.
But more parents are starting to bring their children in for vaccines. It’s a trend Frausto noticed right before Halloween. They’re anticipating vaccinating 40 kids a week because their pharmacy offers something many don’t – walk-ins.
“I think that flexibility is important especially for parents needing to decide okay I need to get this done and check it off if they can’t make an appointment right away they can come into us and we can take care of them very quickly,” said Frausto.
Craig Lee, father of two, says the fact he could walk in and not go through the hassle of making an appointment is what attracted him to the pharmacy. His kids lead the way and received their boosters first.
“They just came in on their own volition because they understand the effects of COVID and both don’t want to be exposed or pass it on,” said Lee.
CVS and they said they are offering the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster to those ages five and up.
In terms of accessibility and supply, they released a statement:
We’re offering the Pfizer-biontech bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine for children ages five (5) years and older at select CVS Pharmacy and Minuteclinic locations. Appointments are added to cvs.com, minuteclinic.com and the CVS Pharmacy app as vaccine arrives at each pharmacy and clinic. We continue to provide our communities with convenient access to vaccines including the approved COVID-19 primary series and boosters, as well as flu and a number of other vaccinations, such as pneumonia and shingles.
Watch more from ABC10: Stockton gets new federal COVID-19 relief funding from USDA
