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California’s coast embracing child COVID vaccinations, while demand lags inland

A 7-year-old gets a pediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Nov. 3, 2021 in San Jose, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Early demand for the COVID-19 vaccine for young children has been startlingly uneven in California, with some areas embracing the shots and others much slower to accept them, a Times data analysis has found.

It’s a pattern that has experts concerned and could have serious implications for how a coronavirus winter surge could spread through various regions of the state.


In San Francisco, 30% of 5- to 11-year-olds have received one shot since the vaccination was authorized for the age group three weeks ago. In Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, the figure is 28%, and in Marin County, once a hotbed of antivaccination sentiment, it’s an astonishing 46%, according to a Times analysis of state data.

Those rates are well above the national rate of 12% and the statewide rate of 13%. Los Angeles and Orange counties are reporting that 12% of kids in the age group are partially vaccinated; San Diego County reports 13%, and Ventura County, 10%.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.