PACIFIC COUNTY — At long last, coronavirus vaccines for children 6 months and older to five years old are now available, after federal and state regulatory health advisers unanimously signed off on two covid vaccines specifically for very young children.

The Pacific County Health and Human Services Department is partnering with Aristo Healthcare to offer three vaccine clinics — two in south county and one in north county — next week to offer the shots, although dates and locations were yet to be finalized as of the Observer’s Tuesday afternoon print deadline. Details can be found on the department’s covid-19 response website, www.pacificcountycovid19.com.

Local hospitals and clinics are also expected to begin receiving stock of the vaccine in the coming days and weeks, county health director Katie Lindstrom said. Providers are expected to begin reaching out to parents and guardians of their pediatric patients once supply is available, she added, although they could reach out to their provider as well to go about trying to set up an appointment to receive the vaccine.

“With the little ones it’s always good, I think, for them to receive care — as much as possible — through their primary care provider,” Lindstrom said. She noted that the Washington State Department of Health estimates that there are about 900 children between the ages of 6 months and five years old in Pacific County.

On June 17, following a unanimous recommendation from an advisory panel, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of vaccines developed by both Pfizer and Moderna in children as young as 6 months old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after receiving a similar unanimous recommendation from its advisory panel, affirmed that decision the next day, and on June 19 Washington state and other regional health officials that comprise the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup made the same determination that the two vaccines are safe and effective.

Moderna’s vaccine for this age group consists of a two-shot series, while Pfizer’s is a series of three shots. Lindstrom said Moderna is more likely to be locally available than Pfizer due to it being easier to store, and should make it easier on children — and their parents — rather than having to schedule three different appointments weeks apart.

Those whose pediatrician is with Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria will also have an opportunity in the coming weeks to get vaccinated. CMH is offering Pfizer’s vaccine at a July 14 clinic from 2-5:30 p.m. A total of 56 slots are available for the event at the CMH-OHSU Pediatric Clinic at 2265 Exchange St. in Astoria. Visit tinyurl.com/4yd44tah to register.

Covid cases plateauingRecent cases of covid-19 in Pacific County have appeared to hit a plateau and may even be receding, according to county epidemiologist Connor Montgomery.

Over the past month or so, the case rate per 100,000 people in the county has hovered around 500, after peaking at north of 3,000 in mid-to-late January during the height of the Omicron wave and hitting a low point of about 55 in late March and early April. But the case rate dropped to 379 in the county’s weekly data update last Wednesday, and Montgomery is hopeful that the downward trend can continue — or at least not see any big jumps.

As of June 22, 4,184 confirmed cases had been reported in the county since the pandemic began. A total of 173 residents have been hospitalized due to the virus, up one from the previous week, and 58 have died. The most recent death was reported on June 8.

With several sublineages of the Omicron variant now spreading throughout the state, Montgomery said residents should be wary of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Both have shown to escape antibodies from vaccination and prior Omicron infection, meaning that just because you were recently infected with the virus doesn’t mean that any short-term immunity will shield you from all of the subvariants that are circulating.

With much of the under-50 general population still not being recommended by health officials to receive another booster dose, Moderna announced on June 22 that one of its booster candidates “elicited potent neutralizing antibody responses against the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 in all participants regardless of prior infection.”

The company said it would be urgently submitting these data to regulators in hopes of having supply available in August, ahead of the fall when infections are expected to rise — as they did in the first two years of the pandemic.