San Diego County health officials address recent local COVID misinformation, COVID shots for kids 5-to-11

A child gets vaccinated against COVID-19 at Rady Children’s Hospital/San Diego County News Service

An independent panel of local doctors today addressed COVID-19 misinformation brought up at the Nov. 2 County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The Nov. 3, 2021 virtual event, which was interpreted live into Spanish, was moderated by Dr. Eric McDonald, County chief medical officer, and included Dr. Siu Ming Geary from Scripps Clinic La Jolla, Dr. Jeannette Aldous from San Ysidro Health, Dr. Zulma Curet with Neighborhood Healthcare and Dr. Mark Sawyer from Rady Children’s Hospital.

This was the second COVID-19 misinformation panel discussion. The first panel of doctors was convened Oct. 6 to address erroneous claims about COVID-19, testing and the vaccine. You can watch today’s video in English above and Spanish below, and the previous panel video below.

County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency staff track COVID-19 misinformation shared during public comment following novel coronavirus presentations to the Board of Supervisors, and a panel is subsequently convened to address claims and misinformation that were stated about the pandemic.

Here is this week’s COVID-19 update from the County Health and Human Services Agency with data through Nov. 2, 2021.

Vaccination Progress:

  • Doses administered: Over 5.18 million.
  • Received at least one shot: Almost 2.55 million or 90.9% of San Diegans 12 and older are partially vaccinated.
  • Fully vaccinated: Over 2.31 million or 82.4%.
  • More vaccination information can be found at coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine.

Deaths:

  • 34 new deaths were reported since the last report on Oct. 27, 2021. The region’s total is 4,241.
  • 23 men and 11 women between Sept. 18 and Oct. 30, 2021.
  • 11 were 80 years of age or older, seven were in their 70s, seven were in their 60s, seven were in their 50s, one was in their 40s and one was in their 30s.
  • Seven of the people who died were fully vaccinated and 27 were not fully vaccinated.
  • 31 had underlying medical conditions, one did not and two had medical history pending.

Cases, Hospitalizations, Case Rates and Testing:

  • 499 COVID-19 cases were reported to the County on Nov. 2, 2021. The region’s total is now 372,709.
  • 3,359 cases were reported in the past week (Oct. 27 through Nov. 2) 3,691 cases were reported in the past week (Oct. 20 through Oct. 26).
  • In the past 30 days (Oct. 4. to Nov. 2), there were 274 COVID-19 hospitalizations; 250 people were not fully vaccinated and 24 were fully vaccinated.
  • San Diego County’s case rate per 100,000 residents is 12.9 overall, 7.4 for fully vaccinated people and 21.9 for not fully vaccinated San Diegans.
  • 17,853 tests were reported to the County on Nov. 2, and the percentage of new positive cases was 2.8%.
  • The 14-day rolling percentage of positive cases among tests is 2.5%.

Community Setting Outbreaks:

  • 33 new community outbreaks were confirmed in the past seven days (Oct. 27 through Nov. 2): Nine in TK-12 grade school settings, eight in business settings, five in daycare/preschool/childcare settings, four in restaurant/bar settings, two in faith-based settings, two in government settings, one in a retail setting, one in a construction setting and one in an after-school program setting.
  • The community outbreaks trigger is more than seven in a 7-day period.

Misinformation resources, and links to these videos, can be found at coronavirus-sd.com.

— Jose Alvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office communications specialist. Contact

COVID-19 vaccinations are now available to San Diego children ages 5 and older.

The California Department of Public Health has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in 5- to 11-year-olds, and health care providers in the region are now vaccinating children in this age group.

“Clinical trials have shown that the Pfizer vaccine is both safe and effective for use in children,” said Wilma J. Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “Getting this newly eligible age group vaccinated will allow kids and their families to return to a more normal daily life and will protect younger siblings who are not eligible to be vaccinated yet.”

The Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine currently authorized for use in 5- to 11-year-olds and 12- to 17-year-olds. Parents should take their children ages 5 to 11 to their primary pediatrician for a vaccine, but if that is not an option, the majority of County-operated COVID-19 vaccination sites also carry the Pfizer vaccine, as do many pharmacies, clinics and other medical providers.

Parents also can visit MyTurn.ca.gov or call the hotline at 833-422-4255 beginning tomorrow to find a nearby vaccination site.

Children in the newly eligible 5- to 11-year-old group will receive a two-dose regimen three weeks apart. The vaccine will be administered with smaller needles, and doses will contain only a third of the dosage compared to what is being administered to teens and adults.

“While the risk of children dying from COVID-19 is much lower than it is for adults, kids now make up about one in five cases here in the County,” said Kelly Motadel, M.D., M.P.H., County child health officer. “Despite often showing only minor symptoms while they are ill, kids are at risk, while lower than adults, of developing long COVID and suffering debilitating long-term effects from the virus.”

Parental consent is required prior to vaccination for anyone under the age of 18. In addition to parental consent, minors must be accompanied to the vaccination appointment by a parent, guardian, or caregiver to verify the child’s age and identity.

State figures show San Diego County has 322,774 children ages 5-11, and the County has plenty of vaccine doses on hand or coming in to vaccinate all eligible youths in the coming weeks.

Additional information about scheduling appointments and what types of documentation children will need to get vaccinated is available at coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine.

— Katie Cadiao, County of San Diego Communications Office communications specialist. Contact.

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