Hill County youth COVID vaccinations set

COVID-19 vaccinations are becoming more available in this part of north-central Montana, and are coming at a time when the number of cases are again starting to surge in the United States.

Hill County health officials announced that at the vaccination clinic scheduled at Holiday Village Mall Thursday of next week, April 8, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approved for youths 16 to 18 will be available, and shots will be administered to that age group from noon to 5.

Hill County Health Officer Kim Larson said the vaccine became available through an offer by Fort Belknap Public Health. 

“They are bringing up the Pfizer vaccine; they will be there to administer and monitor the cold-chain for the vaccine,” she said this morning.

Northern Montana Health Care Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator Julianne LaSmith urged everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Our vaccination numbers have been dropping, so we just want to encourage people that if they intend to get the vaccine, they should come as soon as possible,” she said this morning. “That is the best way for our community to move forward.”

At this point, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for use on 16- and 17-year-olds, although studies are under way with other vaccines including on children younger than 16.

The Pfizer vaccine also needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius, colder than minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes its availability difficult.

Walk-ins of 16- to 18-year-olds will be accepted at the April 8 Hill County Clinic or people can call 265-1585 or 400-2369 to schedule a vaccination

The usual clinic for people ages 18 and older, with the Moderna vaccine, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that same day and Thursday of this week at the Holiday Village Mall clinic.

People 18 and older can also call those numbers, 265-1585 or 400-2369, to schedule a shot at the clinics and walk-ins also will be welcome, Larson said.

Blaine County already had a

vaccination with younger people, with Fort Belknap helping administer a vaccination clinic for 16- to -18-year-olds at Chinook High School Monday.

Both Hill and Blaine county health departments previously have offered to help 16- to 18-year-olds obtain the Pfizer vaccinations through partner health departments.

In Hill County, vaccine is available at Western Drug, Gary & Leo’s Health Mart, Walmart Pharmacy, and community clinics through partnership of NMH, Bullhook Community Health Center and Hill County Health Department

Chouteau County Public Heath Nurse Angelica Johnson said the vaccination clinics in that county are going well, with both the health department and Big Sandy Pharmacy offering vaccines. 

“We feel very fortunate to be able to serve our communities,” Johnson said this morning. “We are scheduling clinics weekly and people can contact our office for an appointment at 622-3771.”

She said they offering both the Moderna and and the Jonson & Jonson Janssen vaccine. 

“We do not currently have the capability to offer Pfizer due to the storage,” she said, adding, “We have not reached out to our partners that offer this as of yet.”

Cases on the rise in

the country

The vaccinations continue and new cases are almost nonexistent in this region, but case numbers are going up in other parts of the country, emphasizing the need to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of National Institutes of Health, have warned that the more the virus continues to spread, the more mutations that will occur, with the chance of variants that are much more contagious, possibly more deadly and possibly resistant to the vaccines will develop.

Numbers of new cases are rising rapidly in the U.S., including confirmed cases of mutated variants that appear to be more contagious.

Variants have been confirmed in Montana including one case — already recovered weeks or months ago — in Hill County.

Officials are warning people that they need to continue to take precautions like wearing masks,when out in public, avoiding large gatherings, regularly washing their hands and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces — and getting vaccinated — or the surge could continue and get worse.

Studies showing positive results on younger children

With the Pfizer-BioNTEch vaccine the only one approved for use in children younger than 18 so far, and only to age 16, results of studies on younger children are showing promise.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced today a study in 12-15-year-olds also shows positive results, and they are going to submit the results to the FDA for emergency use approval of administering the drug to that age group, with vaccinations hopefully available before the next school year.

“We share the urgency to expand the authorization of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15,” Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a release this morning. “We plan to submit these data to FDA as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year.”

“Across the globe, we are longing for a normal life. This is especially true for our children,” CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech Ugur Sahin said in this morning’s release. “The initial results we have seen in the adolescent studies suggest that children are particularly well-protected by vaccination, which is very encouraging given the trends we have seen in recent weeks regarding the spread of the B.1.1.7 UK variant. It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family while protecting them and their loved ones.” 

Moderna also is conducting studies on 12-17-year-olds and announced March 16 it was conducting studies on children 6 months to 12 years old.

Johnson & Johnson is also working on setting up studies on youths and children for its vaccine, which only requires one dose.