15 Mar Status Update on Bay Area Public Health Developments

(“Toddler receiving a vaccine in his arm” by Heather Hazzan for Self Magazine via Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license)

By Bay City News

The latest public health developments around the region as of Tuesday evening include:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

As of December 2022, children aged 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

>>>Read: Kids Need COVID-19 Vaccine Too, Says Health Official

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

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As of Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., officials have confirmed the following number of COVID-19 cases around the greater Bay Area region:

Alameda County: 381,562 cases, 2,198 deaths (381,562 cases, 2,198 deaths on Monday) (Totals include Berkeley Health Department data)

Contra Costa County: 295,986 cases, 1,564 deaths (295,902 cases, 1,557 deaths on Monday)

Marin County: 49,217 cases, 317 deaths (49,217 cases, 317 deaths on Monday)

Monterey County: 99,784 cases, 829 deaths (99,784 cases, 829 deaths on Monday)

Napa County: 34,569 cases, 192 deaths (34,569 cases, 192 deaths on Monday)

San Francisco County: 195,748 cases, 1,170 deaths (195,748 cases, 1,170 deaths on Monday)

San Joaquin County: 210,292 cases, 2,410 deaths (210,292 cases, 2,410 deaths on Monday)

San Mateo County: 184,001 cases, 912 deaths (184,001 cases, 912 deaths on Monday)

Santa Clara County: 477,810 cases, 2,700 deaths (477,810 cases, 2,700 deaths on Monday)

Santa Cruz County: 68,646 cases, 276 deaths (68,646 cases, 276 deaths on Monday)

Solano County: 118,904 cases, 441 deaths (118,904 cases, 441 deaths on Monday)

Sonoma County: 114,787 cases, 548 deaths (114,787 cases, 545 deaths on Monday)

Statewide: 11,146,227 cases, 100,640 deaths (11,146,227 cases, 100,640 deaths on Monday)

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