Marin Readies To Jab 12-To 15-Year-Olds With FDA's Blessings

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin County is readying to launch a COVID-19 vaccine rollout to youths aged 12 to 15.

The county is expected to officially announce the rollout Thursday.

Marin County Public Health announced earlier this week it was partnering with local schools to administer the Pfizer vaccine once it cleared regulatory hurdles.

It has since done so.

The Pfizer vaccine was granted FDA emergency use authorization for 12-to 15-year-olds Wednesday morning and was approved for use in that age group by the Western States Scientific Advisory Group later in the day according to the California Department of Public Health.

Public Health, the Marin agency, hopes to vaccinate half of the county’s 14,000 12-to 15-year-old residents within a week once the rollout gets underway.

Marin’s strategy includes leveraging mass vaccination sites that offer evening and weekend hours for newly eligible youths and their families and sending mobile vaccination units to selected schools.

Public Health anticipates having 10,000 Pfizer doses available across the county to meet the demand among newly eligible youths.

“Vaccinating our adolescents is a high priority and will be critical to our pandemic progress,” Marin County Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement.

“Having entire middle and high schools protected with vaccine, in both staff and students, will be a game-changer. We’ve shown we can make schools safe with rigorous safety protocols, but wide vaccine uptake gives us a lot more freedom and confidence in restoring some normalcy in kids’ lives.”

Parents and guardians will find appointments in several locations countywide.

The ferry terminal parking lot in Larkspur will open 6,000 appointments dedicated to Marin families throughout the week following state authorization.

In addition, Public Health has partnered with Safeway to offer up to 1,000 vaccinations at Miller Creek School in Marinwood the next two Saturdays (May 15 and 22).

Thousands more doses will be administered through mobile vaccination units, traveling to select public schools in low-income communities to vaccinate students and unvaccinated parents.

Public Health hopes to repeat the success of its drive to vaccinate teens 16 and older, a group that became eligible for vaccination just three weeks ago.

Approximately percent of Marin youths aged 16-18 have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the only vaccine authorized for people under the age of 18.

Widening eligibility is another critical step in helping Marin achieve community immunity.

Only 48 percent of Marin’s population is considered “fully immunized” – two weeks past their second/final COVID-19 shot – leaving more than half of the population susceptible to COVID-19 infection.

An average of 10 new COVID-19 cases are diagnosed in Marin every day, a rate that prevented the county from achieving Tier 4 or “yellow” status in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

“Vaccination is our ticket to moving forward,” Willis said.

“Though 84 percent of our residents have received at least one dose, we still remain vulnerable to outbreaks. It will be months before anyone under age 12 will be able to get vaccinated, so the rest of us need to do our part to help us achieve sufficient immunity in our community.”

On Tuesday the Marin County Office of Education hosted an online town hall to discuss vaccine safety and public health’s plan to vaccinate Marin County 12-15-year olds.

The virtual event featured Willis, Deputy Health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora, and Dr. Shilpa Marawah, Chief of Infectious Diseases from Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center.

Information about the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination locations in Marin County can be found at here.