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Younger children eligible for booster shots as COVID cases see slight jump in Dallas County

Younger children booster eligible_052422_PAP_1
Pablo Arauz Peña
/
KERA News
Jennifer Holt's son Robert got his booster shot at the Dallas County Health and Human Services building on Tuesday.

Dallas county health officials are encouraging parents to get a booster shot for younger children aged 5 to 11 now that they're eligible.

Dallas county is still at the lowest level of COVID-19 transmission, but there’s been a small rise in cases in recent weeks.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said there’s been a 40% week-to-week rise in COVID-19 cases. He spoke county officials made boosters available to children at an event Tuesday.

"We remain optimistic that cases and hospitalizations won't substantially increase, other parts of the country are seeing larger increases," Jenkins said. "Well, historically, we know that we need a change of behavior early to prevent new waves from worsening."

Just a little more than a fifth of residents in Dallas county are boosted.

“While we do know that COVID tends to be less severe in children, we've seen increased infection rates and children since the Omicron variant became dominant," said Health and Human Services Director Philip Huang.

Jennifer Holt got her son Robert boosted at the event.

“We're glad for the booster and definitely anxious for younger children to be able to get shots as well but it's been a game of patience, basically," Holt said.

Pfizer recently announced that clinical trials for a three-dose regimen of vaccines for kids under 5 showed strong results.

Got a tip? Email Pablo Arauz Peña at parauzpena@kera.org

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Pablo Arauz Peña is the Growth and Infrastructure Reporter for KERA News.