Lincoln officials tout need for both child vaccines, booster shots

Nov. 10—As children ages 5-11 have started receiving their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Lincoln-Lancaster Health Director Pat Lopez highlighted data Tuesday that showed it's just as important for those who are eligible to get a booster shot.

Lopez said 34% of Lancaster County cases over the past four weeks have been "breakthrough" cases in people who are fully vaccinated.

Most of the cases have been in older people, she said, highlighting the importance of people getting a booster shot if they are eligible.

Lopez said more than 40,000 Lancaster County residents have gotten either a booster dose or a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. About 23,000 of those boosters have been given to people 65 and older, but there are still more than 19,000 people in that age group eligible for a booster shot who have not yet gotten one, she said.

Lopez said seniors getting a booster shot is "as important" as kids ages 5-11 getting their first shot.

"It's those two things that are really going to help us move forward in the community," she said.

Kids 5-11 started getting first shots of the Pfizer vaccine over the weekend. The Health Department held a clinic Saturday at Lincoln High School and vaccinated more than 1,500 children. According to the Health Department's COVID-19 dashboard, more than 6% of that age group have already received a vaccine dose.

Dr. Kimberly White, a pediatrician at Complete Children's Health, brought her 5-year-old daughter to the clinic.

"As a pediatrician and a mom, this is a day we've been waiting for for a very long time," White said. "And I'm thrilled we now have a way to protect our 5- to -11-year-olds against COVID-19."

She said her practice has received a limited supply of vaccine and has already filled up appointments for a clinic it scheduled for its patients Thursday.

The Health Department has three more clinics scheduled this week: Wednesday at the Waverly Community Foundation, Friday at Norris High School and Saturday at Lincoln Northeast High School.

Officials hope getting kids vaccinated and having eligible adults get booster shots will help lower a local case rate that remains stubbornly high and is increasing.

Last week, Lancaster County recorded 715 cases, which was a 6% increase over the previous week and the highest weekly total since mid-September.

The rise in cases in Lancaster County was not as steep as statewide case numbers, however, which rose more than 10% last week.

Hospitalizations also have increased across the state, with the number of COVID-19 patients once again occupying more than 10% of total hospital beds, the threshold Gov. Pete Ricketts set for releasing daily statewide data.

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services reinstated its daily COVID-19 dashboard, which showed there were 418 people hospitalized for the disease across Nebraska as of Monday night, 134 of whom are in intensive care.

An average of 400 Nebraskans were hospitalized with COVID-19 during the past week, which was up from 386 the previous week. That number of virus patients, combined with regular patients, continues to strain the state's hospitals.

In Lincoln, hospitalizations have stayed fairly steady around 90 a day for the past three weeks. On Tuesday, 91 COVID-19 patients were in Lincoln hospitals, 54 of them from Lancaster County.

The Health Department reported 67 new cases.

Lopez said the hospitals in Lincoln remain "stressed," not just from COVID-19 patients, but from high numbers of patients overall.

More people hospitalized for COVID-19 leads to more deaths from the disease. On Tuesday, Lopez reported another Lancaster County death, a man in his 20s who was unvaccinated and had been hospitalized. There already have been eight deaths in the county this month.

The high case numbers, combined with steady hospital numbers, led the Health Department to leave its COVID-19 risk dial in the low-orange range, which means the risk of spread of the disease is high in the community.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.

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