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Last November, Boulder County Public Health announced its goal to vaccinate 14,000 children ages 5–11 against Covid-19 by the end of January. The rollout began quickly: More than a third of Boulder County children in the age group received their first dose by Nov. 20.
According to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, just over 14,000 children ages 5–11 have been vaccinated in Boulder County as of Jan. 24.
Of those, about 11,500 have received their second dose.
The county’s Covid vaccine data dashboard incorrectly shows that only 425 children ages 5–11 are fully vaccinated as of its Jan. 22 update. In an email to Boulder Reporting Lab, Elizabeth Lawrence, a communications specialist at Boulder County Public Health, said that “an issue with the data reported for the number of fully vaccinated 5-11-year-olds on the BCPH Vaccine Dashboard has been identified. We are currently working with our partners at the state level to get this resolved as soon as possible.”
Boulder County’s vaccination rates are currently far higher than the statewide average. In Colorado, 36% of children ages 5–11 have received at least one dose, and 27% have received two.
In Boulder County, 61% have now received at least one dose, and 50% have received two.
Nationally, vaccination rates among children ages 5–11 are lower than the state average. Only 29% have received at least one dose, and 20% have received two. However, this age group has so far been vaccinated at a proportionally higher rate than any other, given they have only been eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine since early November. But questions remain around whether and when efforts might stall locally. Children under the age of five are still ineligible to get vaccinated.
In November, Colorado children ages 5–11 had the highest Covid case rate of any age group. As of mid-January, this age group’s case rate is the lowest among people under 65 years old.
However, case rates are still higher than at any point before the Omicron surge for nearly every age group.