Most SLO County teens are unvaccinated against COVID. Local pediatrician wants to change that
San Luis Obispo County teens and pre-teens are likely enjoying a summer largely free from coronavirus restrictions — but most of them still have yet to receive even their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of June 29, about 60% of local 12- to 17-year-olds — the only county residents under 18 who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines — have not received coronavirus shots, according to California Department of Public Health data.
That’s the lowest vaccination rate of any age group in the county.
In San Luis Obispo County, about 39.5% of eligible pre-teens and teens have received at least one coronavirus shot, and about 28% are fully vaccinated.
County residents ages 16 and 17 became eligible to receive coronavirus shots in early April. Local health officials cleared young people 12 and older to get vaccinated in May.
The two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech shot is currently the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved COVID-19 vaccine for use in teens and children under 18. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are still reserved for adult use.
As more and more young people under 18 become eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, local doctors and pediatricians are beginning to offer shots at their offices.
Dr. René Bravo recently started holding weekly coronavirus vaccine clinics at Bravo Pediatrics in San Luis Obispo. Bravo thinks doctors’ offices will be key to increasing the vaccination rate among the county’s youth.
“Most of the people that have 5-year-olds and 10-year-olds and 15-year-olds, they aren’t as comfortable going into these big mass clinic sites as they are what they call a ‘medical home model,’ ” Bravo said. “So the design is to try to move the vaccination program into private offices, so parents can talk about it to increase confidence in it.”
Bravo answered The Tribune’s questions about vaccinating pre-teens and teens and shared why he thinks it’s important for young people — and adults — to get coronavirus shots.
Why should SLO County doctors offer COVID-19 vaccine to youth?
Bravo said he thinks the coronavirus vaccine will eventually be a normal shot, “like part of the flu series,” and it makes sense to offer it in medical offices.
“I believe in it,” Bravo said. “I believe that it’s a valid therapeutic modality to prevent this terrible, dreadful disease, and that even though most people do well with (COVID-19), people die. And I have seen and experienced that personally. So the whole point of moving it in the office is to make it more accessible and make it more comfortable for parents.”
He said some parents have been asking about the vaccine for a while. Older teens have had the ability to get the shot for months, and their younger siblings are still waiting their turn.
“The first thing that people ask me is, ‘Is it safe?’ ” Bravo said. “And I said, ‘Yeah I think it is.’ I said, ‘Everything that I’ve read and observed seems to be that it’s safe.’ ”
Bravo also gets questions about whether he’s gotten the vaccine and whether he would give it to his grandchildren. He answers “yes” to both.
“I tried to be transparent and honest with them,” Bravo said. “I never tried to tell them something I don’t know. Because, initially, there was a lot of stuff I didn’t know about this. But I can tell them with a lot of confidence that hundreds of millions of people now have had it, and the profile is really good.”
Why is it important for pre-teens and teens to get vaccinated?
Bravo said he’s seen “a lot of kids with (COVID-19).”
While most younger patients do well, the pediatrician said he’s had a couple of patients who struggled with the virus. “It just takes that one that didn’t (do well) ... to make you really sober about this,” Bravo said.
“The fact that the vast majority do well makes me comfortable in discussing the choices,” Bravo said. “But it doesn’t make me comfortable in saying, ‘Don’t get it because you don’t get sick.’ It’s better to get the vaccine than to get tCOVID. Because you don’t know who’s going to be the one that’s going to drop.”
Even children who become infected with coronavirus and recover completely can transmit the virus to other more vulnerable people, he said.
“The other thing is that we don’t know what the long-term effects on children are, so why take that risk?” Bravo asked.
Pediatrician debunks vaccine conspiracies and concerns
Bravo also took on some common vaccine conspiracy theories, such as one that suggests the COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility. He said that theory had been “absolutely debunked.”
“They used to use that myth for other vaccines, also,” Bravo said. “So that’s just an anti-vax myth.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there’s “no evidence that fertility problems are a side effect of any vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines.”
“If you’re not going to take the vaccine, do so for a valid personal reason, and not because you’ve read something on the internet, or seen somebody say something,” Bravo said. “You’re not making a life decision about what type of car to buy, or what clothes to wear today — you’re making a decision that potentially has life and death implications for somebody out there in your sphere, or if not a loved one. So you have to be really careful about that.”
Some people have also expressed concerns that COVID-19 vaccines have received emergency use authorization from the FDA and, therefore, they’re only being used on an “experimental” basis.
“The reality is that the (emergency use) way — like 99% it’s going to be lifted,” Bravo said. “And that was only put in place to get this thing up quickly. Thankfully, they did it that way because we’ve saved a lot of lives. Nobody can argue about the lives that have been saved.”
What’s the best way to protect kids? Vaccinate adults.
Bravo said it’s also still important for adults to continue getting their COVID-19 shots, as larger numbers of people need to be vaccinated to prevent the virus from spreading.
He told The Tribune thathe became emotional when he received vials of the coronavirus vaccine to distribute at his office because he recognized their life-saving power.
“People are asking me all the time, ‘What are we going to do for the kids? What do we gotta do to protect the kids?’ Get vaccinated,” Bravo said. “Right now, there is no question that the adults can be vaccinated safely. And so the way we protect the little kids is we vaccinate the adults, because that prevents the spread. And we’ll continue that way.”
“I think that needs to be a consistent message,” he added. “My fear is that we’re going to get so sidetracked on whether kids should get a vaccine that the major focus of getting all the adults vaccinated is lost. And there’s still a lot of people that need to be vaccinated.”
Where to get a COVID-19 test and schedule a vaccine appointment
Free coronavirus testing is available at clinics in San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. To make an appointment, visit emergencySLO.org/testing; you can register by phone at 888-634-1123.
The county Public Health Department is currently administering coronavirus vaccines to everyone age 12 and up.
Those eligible to receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine can register online or by phone for California’s My Turn appointment system. You can also walk in to any of the county’s clinics without an appointment to receive a vaccine.
To find appointments, visit MyTurn.ca.gov and complete the registration process. Those who need assistance registering for a vaccine can call 833-422-4255 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Sunday.
To sign up for email alerts, visit EmergencySLO.org/en/newsletter.aspx.
In addition to the state’s My Turn system, residents can find appointments for coronavirus vaccines through private health partners and some chain pharmacies, including CVS and Vons.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
