Austin area school district

“We’re just trying to be prudent,” Sara Sackner, the school’s director of advancement, told the Chronicle. With cases rising in the Bay Area , fueled by new, infectious variants that relentlessly spawn every four to six months, Sackner and other staff saw an opportune moment to shut down and beat back the surge.

By the middle of May health officials were reporting 2,500 coronavirus cases a day across the Bay Area — an underestimate, some experts said, because people are testing themselves at home or not getting tested at all.

Sadly, Sackner said, online education “is a skill we have had to acquire.”

She noted that although classes have shifted to computer screens, the school’s campus remains open. Sackner and other faculty worked there on Thursday.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether College Preparatory School’s decision would be a bellweather for other districts. Spokespeople for Oakland and San Francisco Unified School Districts were not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rachelswan

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory panel voted Thursday to recommend the boosters for children ages 5-11 after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the shots for that age group earlier this week. Quick sign-off by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was expected, along with Western regional health advisers and California officials.

While COVID is generally less severe in children, more kids are getting sick and being hospitalized due to the spread of omicron, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a news release Tuesday.

After trials of the Pfizer vaccine – the only one approved for use in people under 18 – showed a strong immune response in children 5-11, the drugmaker applied for emergency use authorization for a 10-microgram booster dose at least five months after completing the primary vaccination series.

While most data on vaccine immunity is based on adult research, it indicates that children should receive the booster as soon as they are eligible, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

The CDC could present new data this week, Blumberg said, but studies in adults show that vaccine immunity wanes “relatively quickly” after the first two doses, with protection from infection reduced after four to six months – though the vaccines still hold up well against severe disease and hospitalization, he said.

“Based on the adult data, it’s likely that children this age (5-11) should receive the booster after five months and not wait any longer since getting three doses provides the highest protection against severe disease,” he wrote in an email.

Immunity from a booster dose “appears to be more durable,” he added.

The proliferation of omicron variants has added urgency to boosters for children, said Dr. Anne Liu, a Stanford pediatrician and infectious disease expert.

While the “effectiveness of a booster dose for kids has yet to be really elucidated,” Liu said it is clear that the effectiveness of vaccines is waning, especially when up against omicron and its subvariants. As a result, it’s “even more important to get vaccinated in order to protect individuals and the community against the spread of omicron,” she said.

Especially as case numbers rise in the Bay Area, she said she believes it’s a good idea for the 5-11 age group to get boosted “sooner rather than later” to maximize protection.

“A lot of people are getting infected for the first or second time,” she said. “There’s a lot of social situations where people are not masking, and kids don’t have a lot of control over what other people are doing in some of those settings.”

School settings can also be a concern for parents, especially since masks are no longer required in most Bay Area classrooms . While the school year is ending, some kids may be participating in summer school or other indoor activities.

Liu said that as a parent, she has seen an increase in the frequency of school close contact notifications, which she said doesn’t necessarily mean there are more infections at school, but reflects the increase in community spread and more people unmasking.

Getting boosted is particularly important for children in any settings with elevated transmission risk, Blumberg said.

“If children are going to be at increased risk of exposure, such as traveling by plane or participating in indoor activities with many other unmasked children, then it is even more important for them to get the booster for additional protection,” he said.

Booster doses in children 5-11 carry no additional safety concerns, Liu said, and the initial trials showed a strong immune response.

Immunocompromised children are already recommended by the CDC to receive a three-dose primary series, with the third dose given four weeks after the second dose. The FDA and CDC decisions this week mean those in the group who have received three doses would be eligible for a fourth shot, USA Today reported .

Of course, children must have received the initial vaccine series at least five months ago to get boosters. The CDC gave its recommendation for the first vaccination round for children 5-11 in early November – and just 35% in that group throughout California had completed the series as of Tuesday, according to state data. Experts attribute the low uptake to parent hesitancy and a perception that kids are less at risk from COVID.

But Liu said parents should be aware we are still very much in the pandemic, which means everyone faces risk, including children.

“It’s not over yet, and getting boosted may help parents have a little more peace of mind for kids” she said. “I certainly think it’s time for kids to be able to have a fun summer.”

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kelliehwang