PROVO, Utah – Vaccinations for those 12 and older have already started in Utah.
“We did have a lot of open appointments, but now with the age change events are filling,” said Danica Topham with the Utah County Health Department. “People can still get appointments for next week, but our Friday event in American Fork, which is for the younger people, is full.”
Spots are filling up, but will any sort of outreach to encourage vaccination for those 12 to 15 take place?
“We don’t have any specific outreach clinics planned at this point, but we’re looking into the possibility of offering COVID vaccinations with a back-to-school vaccination event later on,” Topham said.
Dr. Audrey Stevenson, division director of family health for the Salt Lake County Health Department, says a new CDC directive helps make that option possible.
“One of the great announcements that came out yesterday, in addition to the authorized use of the vaccine for these 12- to 17- year- olds, is the fact that we also have the ability to give this vaccine along with the other vaccine,” Stevenson said.
Before, people were told they couldn’t get a vaccine if they had had another shot within the past two weeks.
“Eleven- and 12-year-olds are required to have a number of vaccines to enter school. So now we have the option of being able to take that along with their school vaccines that they’re going to need,” Stevenson said.
But what about before the back to school shots? 2News asked Stevenson, is the county planning any outreach clinics aimed at vaccinating those in this younger age group?
“All of our events are for any person that is age appropriate,” she said. “So we are planning some activities at our events that would include those younger individuals, but again, there are so many different options that we don’t need to solely focus on this population.”
