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Photo: CDC/Dr. Fred Murphy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health; public domain.
COVID Update | June 23, 2022
- Published: July 1, 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, on Saturday, June 18, approved COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months. The action followed the Federal Drug Administration’s approval the day before of separate vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech developed for young children, who until now have been ineligible for COVID vaccination.
The vaccines became available this week.
According to the CDC, the Moderna vaccine, for children ages 6 months through 5 years, is a two-shot series.
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, executive director of the Ohio Department of Health, said in an online press conference last week that the second Moderna shot can be administered four weeks after the first, and each shot is one-fourth the dosage of the adult vaccine. Moderna has not developed a vaccine for older children.
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Pfizer-BioNTech’s has the only approved vaccine for older children, beginning at age 5. Its new vaccine, for children 6 months through 4 years, involves a three-shot series, according to the CDC.
According to Dr. Vanderhoff, the second Pfizer shot can be administered three weeks after the first, and the third is two months after the second. He said each shot has 1/10 of the vaccine of an adult dose.
The vaccines have come available as case numbers rise in Ohio and Greene County, according to the latest data released by the Ohio Department of Health, or ODH, on Thursday, June 16. The number of new cases in the state, tallied for June 10–16 was 27,628, compared to 6, 788 for the week of Jun 2–9.
• Ohio’s number of new hospitalizations fell, however, moving from 1,258 for June 2–9 to 724 for June 10–16.
• Due to a two-week pause in the ODH’s Office of Vital Statistics reporting on causes of death, which has been enacted while a new coding system is implemented, no new COVID-related deaths were reported for the week of June June 10–16.
• Contrary to the past week’s rise in case numbers, the state’s county average of new cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period decreased slightly, with 251.9 per 100,000 residents on June 16, compared to 267.8 the week before.
• Greene County, with a population of 168,937, reported an increase in its per 100,000 total, with 275.3 as of June 16, compared to 267.6 as of June 9. Greene County’s latest numbers put it 21sr among Ohio’s 88 counties, up significantly from 47th on June 2. Morgan County, in southeastern Ohio, was at the top with 468.7; and Holmes County, in the east central part of the state, was at the bottom, with 38-7 per 100,000 over the two-week reporting period.
• For the week of June 10–15, Greene County reported 436 new COVID-19 cases, compared to 198 the week before. The 45387 ZIP code accounted for nine of the most recent week’s new cases.
• New coronavirus-related hospital admissions in Greene County were numbered at 10, compared to eight the week before, and no COVID-19 death was reported in the county for the fifth week in a row. Since the start of the pandemic, Greene County has reported 513 COVID-19 deaths.
• By the CDC’s current measure, Greene County’s community level remains “low.”
• Free rapid antigen tests continue to be available through the U.S. Post Office. Every household is eligible to order three sets of four at-home tests online, at http://www.covidtests.gov, or by calling toll-free at 800-232-0233.
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