The first signs of the attitude of families towards vaccinating their children between the ages of five and 11 against COVID point to considerable support, although perhaps not as intense as that registered among adolescents. The Valencian Community, the fourth territory with the largest school population in Spain, has asked families for authorization to vaccinate children. It is the first autonomy that starts the process. The answer was to be delivered this Tuesday in the schools, because it will be in them and during school hours where the immunization will take place, which has forced parents to take a portrait. A survey carried out by this newspaper in a dozen schools reflects great contrasts, with percentages of permits to immunize students that range between 50% and 90%. And it also shows the existence of circumstances that make the process difficult, such as discrepancies between separated parents.
As there are still no vaccines for all children from five to 11 years old, the autonomous communities will begin their vaccination this Wednesday for older kids and for those who have a high health risk. In the case of the Valencian Community, where there are about 1,100 primary schools, authorizations have been requested for all sixth, fifth and fourth grade students, who are normally between nine and 11 years old. The vaccination of adolescents (from 12 to 19 years) has reached 85% in Spain with the complete schedule and another 3% with one dose, a higher proportion than in those of the following two age ranges (from 20 to 29 and from 30 to 39). The average among all age groups already vaccinated reaches 89.6%.
The data collected by this newspaper in a dozen Valencian schools have a limited representative value, but they offer some clues as to how things can go. Of the 10 centers, in two of them the authorizations granted have been between 50% and 60% of the students; in another two, between 60% and 70%; in another two, between 70% and 80%, and in the remaining four, between 80% and 90%. Except for those that have reached very high levels, the directors consulted trust that the rates will increase in the coming days, since the procedure for collecting the authorizations has been, according to the general opinion of the educational community, very fast.
The document that the parents had to fill out was delivered to the children in the schools (or sent electronically to the families by the centers) this Monday, and had to be delivered signed this Tuesday, so it is possible that the percentage will increase in the coming days. The reason for going so fast is that the Ministry of Health must now organize the distribution of the doses that the health teams will take to each center with the intention of starting to vaccinate in some of them this Wednesday.
Not having authorized vaccination does not mean, on the other hand, that parents are against it or that they will not immunize their children. The document delivered to the families had a box that the family had to mark to allow the child’s vaccination and another where they could expressly reject it. According to the directors of schools consulted, this last option has been marked, in general, by a low percentage of parents. There has been a greater number of families that have not delivered the document (which can be a convenient way of declining the request to vaccinate their children, but which can also respond to a forgetfulness), or who have presented it with a ruling that does not allow the authorization to be considered valid.
Separated parents
Among the latter, the directors point out, is the case of separated and divorced parents: the document to authorize vaccination distributed by the Generalitat had to be signed in such circumstances by both parents and, especially in urban schools, a part of the children had brought the document authorizing the immunization signed by only one. The intention of the directors is to contact the parents to ask them if it is an error and offer to correct it. In other cases, the centers have proof that one of the parents is in favor and the other is against; the directors of a public school and those of a concerted religious college agree that, in these cases, the former role is more represented by mothers and the latter, by fathers.
There are children, on the other hand, who did not go to class this Monday or Tuesday, and who could deliver it in the next few days. And it is possible, finally, that there are parents who prefer to wait to immunize them later in health facilities, although the Generalitat has not offered this possibility at the moment.
Germans and Poles
The director of a school in which only half of the families have authorized vaccination, affirms: “I believe that the result is mainly due to the haste with which it has been done. The authorization was given yesterday afternoon [por el lunes] to the parents and they had to deliver it today. Time has been lacking. And there are also parents who think that children pass the covid in a gentle way ”. The person in charge of another center located on the coast and with a high percentage of residents of other countries of the European Union, where the percentage of authorizations to vaccinate has been high, points out that a good part of the families who have rejected immunization come from countries Central Europeans, such as Germany and Poland, while parents of other nationalities with a significant weight in the center, such as Morocco, have authorized it.
A part of the parents, several directors agree, complained about the initial idea of the Ministry of Health of not allowing children to be accompanied by the family at the time of being vaccinated, arguing that it was necessary to avoid crowds in the schools. Late in the afternoon on Monday, the Generalitat reported that students may be accompanied by a family member at the time of the puncture.
The Valencian Government ensures that it has opted for vaccination in schools for children aged five to 11 years due to a logistical issue, and given the fact that the network of health centers is simultaneously taking charge of putting the third dose for those over 60 years and the flu immunization campaign. Extremadura and La Rioja will also vaccinate in schools, while Castilla-La Mancha will use about twenty educational centers for this, and will also allow it to be done in health centers.
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