At UCSF’s pediatric vaccine clinics, 55% of the shots given to young children have been Moderna, compared with 45% Pfizer.ĭr. In Marin County, 65% of first shots given to kids under 5 have been Moderna. Locally, many parents appear to prefer the quicker Moderna vaccine protocol over Pfizer’s more prolonged alternative for their under-5 children. Vaccine uptake among babies and toddlers in the Bay Area is far outpacing statewide and national rates. Many families are going on summer vacations and want to get their youngest children vaccinated before they depart.įelix Molina receives a COVID-19 vaccination in the car with his mother, Melody Molina, by his side at the UCSF Laurel Heights campus in June. Children are out of school, so it may be easier for parents to bring them in right away. Kotis attributes the higher-than-anticipated early uptake to several factors. “Within the first four or five days, we were probably 20% to 30% greater than what we expected.” “It was faster than we expected, which is a good thing,” said Desi Kotis, chief pharmacy executive at UCSF, which is administering shots for the under-5 set at clinics in San Francisco and Oakland. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Marin, for example, officials expected the number to hit about 33% at this stage based on uptake with the 5-11 age group.īut all the Bay Area numbers are higher than the 2.4% rate in California as a whole and just 1.5% nationwide, according to new figures from the state Department of Health Services and the U.S. Health officials in some counties had hoped for better. Napa and Sonoma counties report 6% and 5% uptake, respectively. In Marin, San Mateo and Alameda counties, 16%, 12% and 10% of babies and toddlers have gotten their first shot, respectively, local data show.